San Diego restaurant owners are calling for action on the city’s rising energy costs after their natural gas bill jumped $6,000 in just one month — a 400 percent increase.
Radford restaurant owners Jeff and Nick Kacha joined “Fox & Friends First” Thursday to discuss how politicians have cheated the city’s small business owners as they try to survive inflation. are struggling.
“They’re not representing the people here in San Diego at all, I can tell you that,” Nick told Ashley Strohmeier. “It seems like they’re throwing businesses under the bus… We bring a lot of tax revenue to the city of San Diego and everything. Companies can do whatever they want… It’s sad to see… the public is hurting.”
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“There are just people who say they can’t afford their bills anymore,” he continued. These are the people who need it the most, and… they don’t seem to represent any of us.”
Rodford Restaurant, a staple diner in the city’s North Park neighborhood, had a natural gas bill of $2,200 in December 2022.
In January of this year, the same bill went up to $8,200, specifically for natural gas alone. The couple noted that the bill doesn’t account for electricity, which is typically closer to $5,000 per month now.
Radford Restaurant is a decades-old diner in North Park, San Diego.
“We can’t continue to raise our prices … until someone shows up,” Jeff said. “It’s a very blue-collar restaurant… We’re all on a tight budget. We try to control our costs… We’re just trying to do the best we can.”
“We are hoping that there will be some relief and that … our politicians take action and control these costs,” he continued.
Nick said California energy company SDG&E just “dropped” on him that his bill would go up at the end of December.
The company announced this week, however, that the Feb Prices will come down 68%, giving some residents a sigh of relief.
SDG&E claims that it does not mark up natural gas prices, and that prices are largely driven by market conditions, which can be significantly affected by weather and pipeline access.
But Nick wasn’t convinced.
“I think they’ve kind of held their hands … the costs are going up on the people of San Diego, but … now we’re with a bill that’s going to go down.” They said.
Radford’s has been a staple diner in San Diego for decades, and although the location has been in business since 1949, Jeff warns that “out of control” prices could drive business out as the cost of living continues to rise.
“I think they’re running us out of here,” Jeff said. “It’s out of control. The costs are out of control.”
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