San Diego Businesses feel electric shock

Following the rise in energy prices as a result of the 2000-01 California Energy Crisis, the State entered a recession. As energy prices rise in San Diego, businesses are starting to feel the pich again:

The $733 million in new electricity costs levied on San Diego Gas & Electric customers last week could hit local restaurant owners with increases of nearly 19 percent in coming years.

Factories, school and business could also face double-digit rate hikes, according to projections released yesterday by SDG&E of how the new costs will affect customers.

While releasing the numbers, the local utility also confirmed that it will soon ask the California Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its decision to impose the new costs...

According to SDG&E projections released yesterday, the proposal would increase annual power bills for a typical restaurant from about $58,000 this year to more than $69,000 by 2008, when they would begin to decline.

Electricity bills for a high school would increase from about $84,000 this year to about $97,500 in five years, the utility said.

The new cost would hit SDG&E's biggest power users – industrial customers – the hardest. Their average yearly electricity bills would rise by $500,000, from $2.9 million to $3.4 million within five years, the utility said.