City of Palo Alto Utilities

Most Americans get their power and gas from a large private company. Palo Alto is different. The city has run its own utilities since 1896 and today City of Palo Alto Utilities, known as CPAU, supplies electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater service to homes and businesses. It also runs a fiber optic network. The city describes itself as the only city in California that owns and operates a full suite of municipal utility services.

For a new resident that means one account, one monthly bill and one phone number for most things. This page explains how to start service, what shows up on the bill, how rates are set and where to find them. It also covers the city's carbon neutral power, its electrification programs and what to do when the lights go out. For the bigger picture of moving here, start with our guide to living in Palo Alto.

What the city provides

CPAU owns the wires, pipes and meters that serve Palo Alto. It buys electricity and gas on the wholesale market and delivers them to customers. Water comes through the regional system that serves much of the Peninsula. Wastewater goes to the city's treatment plant near the Baylands.

• Electric. Carbon neutral supply since 2013, with time-of-use rates that make power cheapest during solar hours.
• Natural gas. Carbon neutral since July 1, 2017 through offsets the city buys each year.
• Water and wastewater. Billed together with your other services.
• Fiber. A long-running dark fiber network for businesses plus a newer retail internet service called Palo Alto Fiber.
• Refuse. GreenWaste of Palo Alto collects garbage, recycling and compost under contract. CPAU bills for it monthly. Our trash and recycling guide covers the carts and rules.

The city's rate notices also list a stormwater fee and the Utility Users Tax, so expect to see those charges on a residential bill as well.

Starting, stopping and changing service

You can open an account online, by phone or in person. The rules on the city's start, stop or change service page are short and strict, so plan a few days ahead of your move.

1. Apply at least one business day ahead. Use the Residential Customer Service Agreement online or call Customer Service at (650) 329-2161. The city processes applications within two business days.
2. Pick a weekday. Service starts and stops only Monday through Friday and never on city holidays.
3. Have your ID ready. The city accepts a Social Security number, driver's license or passport number. Only one legal name goes on the account and you will be asked for the last four digits of your primary ID.
4. Expect a deposit. The city applies a security deposit to new accounts and it appears on your first bill. You do not pay anything up front to open the account.
5. Set up MyCPAU. The online portal handles payments, move-out requests and outage text alerts.

When you leave, use the Move Out tab in MyCPAU or the Account Closure Request form, again with one business day of notice. The final bill arrives 1 to 10 days after closure and any unreturned deposit is credited on it, so leave a forwarding address.

Renters and landlords

Tenants open and close their own accounts. Landlords can sign a Revert to Owner Agreement so that billing switches back to the owner automatically between tenants. That agreement does not itself start service for a new tenant. Owners who sell a property should tell Customer Service at least a business day ahead, or the bill keeps going to them.

Customer Service sits on the second floor of City Hall at 250 Hamilton Avenue. The phone line is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Walk-in help is available Monday through Thursday. Friday visits are by appointment.

Your monthly bill

Meters are read monthly on a route schedule, so your billing cycle may not line up with the calendar month. Bills print and mail the business day after the read and are usually due 20 days after the print date. The city posts a sample bill online that shows where each service appears.

Starting in October 2026, customers who pay by credit or debit card cover the card processing fee themselves. Paying from a bank account through automatic payments avoids it. The city also warns about scams in which callers pretend to be from the utility and demand immediate payment. If a call feels wrong, hang up and dial (650) 329-2161 yourself.

How rates are set

The City Council sets utility rates, usually for a fiscal year that begins July 1. Water, wastewater and refuse increases require mailed notices under Proposition 218 before the council votes. Gas commodity costs move every month with the market.

For fiscal year 2027 the city's utilities rates page published these changes for a median residential bill, effective July 1, 2026. The council adopted the fiscal year 2027 budget on June 15, 2026. It puts the median residential utility bill at $476.74 a month, up 8.0 percent from $441.53. The breakdown by service:

Those figures start from the fiscal year 2026 median residential bill of about $441.50 a month. A separate gas rate change took effect February 1, 2026. Your own bill depends heavily on house size, appliances, garden watering and whether you have solar. Read the current schedules on the city's rate page before you budget.

Time-of-use electricity

CPAU offers a time-of-use electric rate in which midday solar hours are the cheapest time to use power. Running the dishwasher, charging an electric car or heating water in the middle of the day costs less than doing it in the early evening. If you drive electric, see our EV charging guide for public chargers around town.

Carbon neutral power and gas

The City Council adopted a Carbon Neutral Plan in 2013. Since then the city has supplied 100 percent carbon neutral electricity from renewable and hydroelectric sources, according to its carbon neutral program page. In 2020 the city moved from annual to hourly accounting, which matches supply to demand more closely through the day.

Gas works differently. Burning natural gas still releases carbon, so the city calculates the emissions from gas use in Palo Alto each year and buys offsets to balance them. That program began July 1, 2017 and applies to every gas customer by default. It is one reason the city now pushes residents to replace gas appliances with electric ones.

Electrify My Home and rebates

The city's main home program is Electrify My Home. It started with heat pump water heaters and now also covers heat pump heating and cooling, induction ranges and electric dryers. A heat pump water heater is a sensible first step because water heaters wear out on a predictable schedule and the swap is a small job.

According to the city's heat pump water heater page, the program offers:

• A full-service option in which the city's program handles permits, the installer and rebates.
• Rebates if you prefer to hire your own contractor and apply through the city's Rebate Hub.
• Help when a water heater fails suddenly, so you are not forced into another gas unit.
• Water heaters that detect leaks and can preheat water when solar power is plentiful and rates are low.

When we checked in October 2026, the page advertised a limited-time $500 discount for customers using the program's services and said a project could cost as little as $2,100 with the discount. The city's announcement and its Rebate Hub show that the discount ran from July 1 to October 31, 2026. Call (650) 713-3411 or use the form on the city page to confirm what is available when you apply. Our home electrification rebates guide covers the other city programs. The city has promoted rooftop solar through the Bay Area SunShares group-buying program in past years, but we could not confirm a 2026 round. Utilities Program Services on the third floor of City Hall answers rebate questions at (650) 329-2241.

Older homes often need electrical panel work before a full switch to electric appliances. If you are buying a house, ask about panel size, the age of the water heater and furnace and any past rebates. Our real estate guide covers the wider buying process.

Palo Alto Fiber

Palo Alto has owned a dark fiber network since the 1990s and leases strands to businesses. More recently the city began selling internet service directly to homes under the name Palo Alto Fiber. Local reporting in January 2026 described a first phase around the Greer Park area with a target launch that spring and wider expansion depending on how the pilot performed.

In October 2026 the city's Palo Alto Fiber page listed two packages, both with the same upload and download speeds:

• 1 gigabit service for $65 a month.
• 500 megabit service for $50 a month.

Both include a router with WiFi, a firewall and local support. Coverage is still limited. Use the address lookup at shopfiber.paloalto.gov and sign up for neighborhood updates if your street is not served yet. Founders setting up a home office will find more relocation tips in our moving here as a founder guide.

Outages, leaks and emergencies

Save these numbers in your phone before you need them. They come from the city's outages page.

The city runs a live power outage map and sends outage text messages to the mobile numbers on each account, which customers can manage in MyCPAU. If you smell gas, do not flip switches, do not hunt for the leak and do not try to operate the meter yourself.

Public Safety Power Shutoffs

Like other California utilities, CPAU can turn off lines in fire-prone areas during extreme weather. The city calls this a last resort for extraordinary conditions. It aims to warn customers early and inspects lines before restoring power, so a shutoff could last more than a day. Foothills residents should read our emergency preparedness guide and keep a plan for medical devices and refrigerated medicine.

Frequently asked questions