SMUD EV Charging Cost at Home
See what charging an EV at home adds to your bill from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), whether another rate plan would cost less once you have the EV, and how home charging compares with gas.
Sources, dates, and what’s not included
Rate schedules
- Fixed Rate (RF01): rates in effect from January 1, 2026, checked against the official schedule on October 4, 2026. Sources: Rate Schedule R (Residential Service), Rate Schedule HGA (Hydro Generation Adjustment).
- Time-of-Day (Low Use) Rate (RTL1): rates in effect from January 1, 2026, checked against the official schedule on October 4, 2026. Sources: Rate Schedule R-TOD (Residential Time-of-Day Service), Rate Schedule HGA (Hydro Generation Adjustment).
- Time-of-Day (5-8 p.m.) Rate (RT02): rates in effect from January 1, 2026, checked against the official schedule on October 4, 2026. Sources: Rate Schedule R-TOD (Residential Time-of-Day Service), Rate Schedule HGA (Hydro Generation Adjustment).
Not included
- Utility tax for cities and unincorporated areas of Sacramento County (the “Sacramento City Tax” line on SMUD’s sample bill) (SMUD, Back of bill; SMUD, Understanding your bill (sample bill))
- California State Energy Charge (the “State Surcharge” line on SMUD’s sample bill) (SMUD, Back of bill; SMUD, Understanding your bill (sample bill))
- Charges for optional programs you sign up for and for optional metering equipment (Special Metering Charge) aren’t included.
- Discounts and charges for the conditions listed under “Account conditions this estimate can’t cover” in the calculator.
Notes
- Annual amounts are estimates at current rates, not a forecast of future bills. Monthly amounts are the year’s total divided by 12.
- An approved rate change for Fixed Rate (RF01) takes effect on January 1, 2027, under Rate Schedule R (Residential Service). These estimates use the rates in effect now.
- An approved rate change for Time-of-Day (Low Use) Rate (RTL1) and Time-of-Day (5-8 p.m.) Rate (RT02) takes effect on January 1, 2027, under Rate Schedule R-TOD (Residential Time-of-Day Service). These estimates use the rates in effect now.
- Holidays listed in the rate schedules are billed like weekends. Usage on those days is also spread like a weekend day.
- Your monthly kWh is spread over the hours of the day with a typical hourly pattern for homes in Sacramento County, CA, derived from the End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock. The pattern comes from building energy models calibrated to measured data, not from your own meter, so your bill can differ.
- The apartment pattern is based on 444 building models, compared with 1,515 for houses, so it is less certain.
- Data includes information from the ResStock™ dataset developed by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- See the methodology for how the usage patterns are made and what the estimates include.
- Choose your Vehicle, or choose Enter efficiency myself and enter its kWh per 100 miles. Enter your Miles a year and the share you charge at home.
- Choose when you start charging and for how many hours.
- Choose your current plan and enter your home’s monthly usage without the EV. Answer the account questions.
- Optionally, enter a gas car’s fuel economy and the gas price to compare with gas.
- Read the result: A is your current plan without the EV, B is the same plan with the EV, and C is each other plan with the EV. Share the page’s address to share your inputs.
Reading the A, B, and C comparison
- B − A is what the EV adds to your bill if you keep your current plan. It includes any credit you qualify for once you have the EV.
- B − C is what switching to another plan would change once you have the EV, with the same charging hours.
- The difference between C and A mixes the EV and the plan change, so it isn’t shown on its own.
- The gas comparison covers only the miles you charge at home, so it compares the same miles both ways.
Vehicle efficiency
Efficiency is the EPA combined rating in kWh per 100 miles from FuelEconomy.gov web services (U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. EPA). It includes charging losses, so the calculator doesn’t add any.
| Vehicle | kWh/100 mi | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | 27.4959 | October 5, 2026 |
| 2026 Tesla Model 3 Premium RWD | 24.6398 | October 5, 2026 |
| 2026 Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD | 31.0762 | October 5, 2026 |
| 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5 RWD | 30 | October 5, 2026 |
| 2026 Ford Mustang Mach-E RWD | 31.4375 | October 5, 2026 |
| 2026 Kia EV6 Long Range RWD | 29.5817 | October 5, 2026 |
How the estimate works
- For each month of the current year, your monthly kWh is spread over the days and hours with the typical hourly pattern for your type of home. Weekdays and weekends have different patterns, and holidays use the weekend pattern.
- If you shift evening use, that share of each day’s use from 5 p.m.–9 p.m. moves evenly to midnight–6 a.m., and your total use stays the same.
- Your EV’s monthly kWh at home is its efficiency (kWh per 100 miles) × miles a year ÷ 100 ÷ 12 × the share charged at home. It is added evenly to each charging hour, every day.
- Each hour is matched to the plan’s time period for that month and day, priced at the plan’s rate, and added up. The fixed charge (a monthly amount, or a daily amount times the days in the month), the per-kWh adjustment, and any credit you qualify for are separate lines. Each line is rounded to the cent, and the bill is the sum of the lines.
- The annual estimate adds up 12 monthly bills at the rates in effect now. Every plan gets the same usage, so the differences come only from the rates.
- If a plan’s rates are being rechecked, for example after a scheduled rate change, the calculator shows its estimate at the last checked rates and stops ranking it until the check is done.