https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/
California's average electricity rate is 2.4x that of the cheapest state. So it is not 500% more than any state, let alone many states.
There are tiered plans and time-of-use plans that make it almost impossible to get the rates other states have 24/7.
for example, an electric vehicle plan that discounts electricity to 27c/kwh at night for charging, makes you pay 58c/kwh during the day.
Basically they outlaw air conditioning (and any kind of daytime appliance use).
The upside to this is that it lets people install solar + batteries and make themselves independent of the utility.
I expect the long game is to bow out of residential electricity (which has more expensive infrastructure), get some sort of "minimum payment" plan in place to cover it anyhow, and collect ruinous rates from city dwellers with no solar ability and where infrastructure per household is efficiently deployed.
I have a municipal utility company, so they don't have to worry about profit or anything like that. The lowest possible residential rate, for people who use a minimal amount of electricity at the cheapest times, is $0.2106/kWh. And that's before amortizing the daily "power access fee". Most people will be in the middle or top tier, where the marginal price can exceed $0.40/kWh.
For PG&E, it looks like electricity starts at $0.38/kWh after taxes and goes up to $0.48/kWh for heavy users[1]
For SoCal Edison, the cheapest tier is $0.36/kWh and goes up to $0.46/kWh for heavy users.
Unless there's some secret to getting cheap electricity, or the numbers in your link don't include state taxes/fees, it seems impossible to me that the average residential kilowatt-hour of electricity only costs $0.19.
Edit: FWIW, the BLS CPI calculations[3] say that rates in California metros range from $0.274-$0.475. They don't publish a CA average, but the "Pacific" regional average of $0.228/kWh is still above the $0.196/kWh figure, even after being brought down by states like Washington where electricity is ~75% cheaper than places like San Diego
[1]: https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/rate-plans/how-ra...
[2]: https://www.sce.com/residential/rates/Standard-Residential-R...
[3]: https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/data/averageenergyprices...
https://www.pge.com/pge_global/local/images/data/en-us/rate-...
I can't link directly to the tab but its the second tab on this page: https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/rate-plans/rate-plan-o...
If you're lucky enough to live in Alameda, it has its own municipal power. Their EV rates are significantly cheaper at $0.15/kWh https://www.alamedamp.com/393/TOU-Time-of-Use-Rate-for-EV-Ow...
I'm guessing if the GP did have a source it'd be "this specific county in CA is 5x more than these sets of counties that sell electricity to other counties to subsidize their users"
I read up on EV forums and solar forums. Ive seen people paying $0.06
I'm paying $0.38+ in California
Sure I use a bit of hyperbole in my stat... But it's still outrageous, and armchair 3 second googling isn't going to convince me.
And now, the people I talk to agree with the general sentiment they just can't believe how screwed were all getting and how basically there is nothing we can do about it.
Usually the conversation quickly turns to moving out of California soon.
But for an anecdote, I pay $0.18/kWh for off-peak electricity in the middle of Los Angeles. Peak is $0.27. I also have 1:1 net metering so they’ll buy excess solar and battery at the same rate.