Fresno restaurant hit with $21K PG&E bill

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - With the utmost vigor many, are acrophobic astir the outgo of keeping cool.

Manny Perales, proprietor of Yosemite Falls Cafe, says helium was deed with a $21,000 PG&E measure conscionable past month.

“I person an accounting specializer that's assigned to Yosemite Falls and I was reviewing the measure and asked her however tin it spell from $0.14 per kilowatt to 50 some-odd dollars per kilowatt?" helium said. "She goes, 'No, no, no. You're speechmaking that incorrect it's got to beryllium $0.53 during peak,' and I said, 'No, tin you propulsion up the bill, please,' and she was blown away”.

To prevention wealth Perales has had to instrumentality measures to conserve electricity.

Just this week helium decided to adjacent his eating country for respective days a week.

Perales isn't the lone 1 feeling the pinch of vigor costs.

At the commencement of the year, PG&E’s rates went up 12.8% for its 16 cardinal customers successful the authorities aft the California Public Utilities Commission approved the complaint summation petition successful 2023.

Jeff Smith with PG&E says the inferior institution can't remark connected idiosyncratic clients' bills but says they are ever moving with tiny businesses to negociate costs.

“A solution is to look astatine the balanced outgo program. And what that does is equilibrium your outgo each crossed each 12 months. So you don't person those spikes successful the summertime months erstwhile vigor usage present successful the Central Valley tends to spike” said Smith.

For now, Perales says helium volition find a mode to wage that $21,000 tab without drastically expanding his prices.

“What americium I expected to bash complaint $35 for a hamburger oregon a sandwich conscionable to marque up? You conscionable can't bash that,” said Perales.