Fresno business hit with PG&E bill for over $18,000 one year after $21,000 bill

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - As galore effort to support cool, a main happening connected the caput of galore close present is electrical costs.

The proprietor of 1 Fresno edifice successful peculiar knows however devastating a combo of precocious inferior rates and precocious vigor tin be.

"With these triple digits, who knows what's going to happen?" said Manny Perales, proprietor of Yosemite Falls Cafe.

Last July, Perales was deed with a PG&E measure for implicit $21,000 astatine his edifice disconnected Blackstone Avenue successful Fresno.

"It took a twelvemonth to get implicit that, you know, due to the fact that you interruption down your measure due to the fact that they let you to dispersed it implicit truthful galore months," Perales said.

To equilibrium the blow, helium invested $50,000 to regenerate his monolithic 25-ton aerial conditioning portion with multiple, smaller wall-mounted units.

"They're truly efficient," helium said.

Paired with a cooler summertime 2025, helium saw some savings this July.

"Dropped it by astir $3,000, you know, but inactive it's $18,000, inactive for this past month," helium said.

It's conscionable the latest jaw-dropping disbursal helium has, which includes rising spot taxes and security costs.

"It's astir apt 3 times what it utilized to beryllium 5 years ago. You know?" helium said. "Imagine, if it was $30,000 a year, present it's $90,000 a year."

Those costs are portion of the crushed he's precocious shuttered 2 locations, with lone 2 remaining successful the Fresno area.

Now, arsenic the sweltering summertime vigor hits again, he's disquieted what the adjacent measure is going to look like.

"I'm shaking successful my boots."

Perales says helium looked into solar, but said the outgo for the instrumentality for his Blackstone edifice unsocial would beryllium $1 million.

"We can't spend it," helium said. "I would emotion to person solar, but it's a cardinal dollars."

PG&E can't remark connected circumstantial lawsuit bills, but their spokesperson, Jeff Smith, says they privation to marque definite customers are connected the close complaint plan, particularly for the much costly summertime season.

"We recovered that many, some residential and concern customers, mightiness not beryllium connected the astir preferential complaint program for them," Smith said. "We tin look into their complaint program for them, and marque definite that they're connected the lowest outgo rate."

Perales plans to instal a mates much of the businesslike partition units astatine his restaurant, but says if helium can't get the abstraction efficient, he'll person to adjacent it too.