How soon before those that bought EV’s to save on gas money realize they have been scammed? Take the tens of billions spent by government, using tax dollars, to incentivize the purchase of EV’s, and the hundreds of billions to be used to build charging stations—this is a massive cost. Now, as I have written for years, the cost of electricity will go up, way past the cost of gas. Here is an example.
“Manuel Perales, the owner of Yosemite Falls Cafe says his June utility bill was nearly $21,000. His rent? $10,000.
“How do you pay that bill?” he said.
He says it doesn’t make sense to receive that astronomical bill even during the hottest months of the year.
He’s not the only one outraged with the increase of PG&E bills.”
It will only get worse. This is one reason there are almost no buyers for used EV’s—these people understand it is a massive money loser.
Fresno restaurant owner hit with $21,000 PG&E bill for one month, nearly double his rent
by Mayra Franco, Fox26, 7/12/24 https://kmph.com/news/local/fresno-restaurant-owner-hit-with-21000-pge-bill-for-one-month-nearly-double-his-rent
FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — A Fresno small restaurant owner says he has had enough after his PG&E bill was nearly double his rent.
Manuel Perales, the owner of Yosemite Falls Cafe says his June utility bill was nearly $21,000. His rent? $10,000.
“How do you pay that bill?” he said.
He says it doesn’t make sense to receive that astronomical bill even during the hottest months of the year.
He’s not the only one outraged with the increase of PG&E bills.
He shares that one of his servers told him her monthly bill was $1,000.
“This is a young lady with two kids. She goes, you know, we can’t afford that,” he said.
Daisy Saldana, a server at Yosemite Falls Cafe says, her bill last month was around $700.
“It has been hot but that is a little too extreme, $700,” she said.
For May, her bill was at $400.
Luckily, she says she splits it with three roommates, or else it would be her whole paycheck going towards the electricity bill.
For Yosemite Falls Customers, it’s the same story.
Dale Manasco said, “It’s ridiculously high and especially when you’re on a set income. I don’t have the best-paying job and what I make, seems like it’s going to the PG&E bill.”
Other customers who overheard a FOX26 News crew speaking to Perales say, they couldn’t believe his utility bill was double his rent to keep his business running.
That, on top of inflation and minimum wage recently going up.
“We heard that when he told you. Shocked, just shocked. Then, I look at the menu and I’m like… their prices are great.” said Mola Allen, who was eating at the restaurant.
As for Perales, he says PG&E can raise their rates to whatever they want and as their customer, he can’t do anything about it. Nor can he switch to another company for cheaper rates because there is no competition.
“What am I supposed to do? Should I raise my hamburgers up to $30.00 so I can pay for that? Then, I won’t have any customers,” he explained.
He says 60% of his customers are senior citizens who are on a set income.
If I were to raise my prices up 25% like PG&E does, they wouldn’t be able to come in. I just don’t have the heart to do that. I wish PG&E had a heart. You know, I wish that Sacramento had a heart. Our legislators had a heart because somebody needs to do something about this.
Perales shared his bill from last year around the same time this year. It was around $14,000.
FOX26 News did reach out to the California Public Utilities Commission via phone and email to find out why customers are seeing such high rates.
We are still waiting to hear back from them.
If you had the option to choose another gas and electric company would you?
Let us know!
PG&E issued the following statement on Monday:
We know many of our customers are struggling with higher energy costs. On July 1, our electric rates decreased by 9%. This temporary change will help customers save on their bills during the hottest months of the year. In parts of our service area like Fresno, the rate decrease could provide an even bigger benefit because customers tend to use more energy here during the summer.
While we cannot speak to the specifics of any customer’s account without their approval for customer privacy reasons, generally speaking, customers tend to use more electricity in the summer months to cool their homes and businesses, which can be a significant factor in customer bill increases. We’re here to help all of our customers save energy and money, including helping them find the best rate plan for their household or business, sharing free and low-cost actions to help them reduce energy usage and better manage their monthly bills, and offering bill assistance programs for income-eligible customers.
