Businesses Suffer from High Energy Prices

As energy prices creep skyward, California businesses are again feeling the pinch:

Truckers pay more for diesel, often out of their own pockets. So do farmers, who tend their crops with fleets of tractors and tillers. Shuttle bus companies whisking travelers to the airport can't stop driving just because they're spending more at the pump.

Most companies have a hard time passing higher fuel costs on to consumers, at least in the short term.

They may be hemmed in by competition, afraid they'll lose business to their rivals if they raise their prices. Or they may be locked into contracts their customers signed before fuel costs started soaring.

The price of crude set another record Friday, closing at $57.27 per barrel.

If oil prices remain high, however, consumers eventually will bear the burden.

In a Chronicle survey of business owners and mangers, most said they will, sooner or later, work higher oil costs into their own prices and fees. Food, clothes, appliances -- in short, anything that needs to be shipped -- may cost more as a result. So may services that depend on driving.