California Energy Price Data for August 2026

Below are the monthly updates from the most current August 2026 fuel price data (GasBuddy.com) and June 2026 electricity and natural gas price data (US Energy Information Administration). To view additional data and analysis related to the California economy visit our website at www.centerforjobs.org/ca.

Energy prices continue to be dominated by global supply disruptions stemming from conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. In the most recent weekly prices for the week of September 7 from US Energy Information Administration, regular gasoline in California reached $5.678 a gallon, 28% above the level a year ago and only 9% below the all time high. Diesel prices—a critical fuel underlying core costs of food and other goods—in particular have been affected by the supply slump in Russia, a key source of global diesel supplies. Diesel prices reached a new high of $7.764 a gallon in California compared to $5.967 for the US.

For other energy prices, California policies, taxes, and fees kept them at the highest or near the highest among the contiguous states.

Providing a periodic check on the progress in the state’s regulatory-driven “energy transition,” Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory publishes annual flow charts showing the total energy supply by source and how this energy flows through and underlies the economy of each state. The summary results comparing California and the US are shown in the following chart using data from the recent release for 2024. Individual energy sources are shown in the bold colors and category summations in the shaded.

A couple of points become obvious. First, California has become more successful in promoting alternative sources, at 16.2% of total energy supplies compared to 8.3% for the US. But the overall contribution is small and dominated by Biomass (64% of the Alternatives total) primarily coming from biodiesel. Adding in Nuclear and Hydro, the success of California’s focus on “Net Zero” sources is less apparent, coming in at 20.6% of the total compared to 17.8% for the US.

California’s dependence on hydrocarbon energy similarly is not substantially different from the US, at 75.8% vs. 82.2%, meaning California continues to depend on traditional hydrocarbon sources for just over three-quarters of its energy supplies. And these are the supplies that are heavily targeted by state and local supply restrictions, taxes, and fees driving up the costs of goods and services and overall costs of living.

In particular, California relies on oil to a greater extent than the US overall, at 45.0% of total energy vs. 37.6% in the US average. In spite of this continued reliance, state policies have driven down in-state supplies both from crude production and refinery capacity below levels capable of serving this demand from both California along with Nevada and Arizona.

Overall, California crude production including federal offshore has plummeted 77% from its peak and continues to fall. Production in Alaska, the state’s other previously dominant source, has plunged by 80% but has become relatively stable at its new lower level.

While the rest of the country is essentially self-sufficient, California has instead turned to more volatile import sources as its domestic supplies and refinery capacity have fallen. In the latest data for the year-to-date totals, crude imports are down 16.1% from the same period in 2025 due to the state’s refinery closures and shifts to biodiesel. But even with the conflicts in the Middle East, California remains dependent on this region for just under a quarter of its crude supplies.

The state instead has had to turn to increasing product imports as well, both final products and blending supplies, up 24.0% in the latest data. The dominant source is Asia. As a consequence, California also has a substantial indirect vulnerability to Middle East volatility as the predominant crude source for the Asian refineries. This sourcing also means an increasing share of the state fuel supplies required to respond to any supply emergency now lay weeks away in other countries.