SEATTLE — That’s good news for a busy Belltown business. Even with an entire section full of Eagles' fans the day the Seattle takes on Philly -- the biggest fight at Buckley’s is still with the utility bill.
"Got your flat top,” owner Tim Buckley says, walking us through his kitchen. “That runs off the gas. 36 inch grill, that runs off the gas,” he explains.
Buckley says between this sports bar and his other in Queen Anne, he averages 3,000 dollars a month on natural gas alone. The absolute biggest gas guzzlers in this place are three deep fryers; they run about 13 hours a day and Buckley says they account for more than 2,000 dollars of that 3,000 dollar bill.
Tack onto that the cost to heat the place.
"That will go up in January and February -- it gets a little colder, so about 3500,” Buckley said.
He was thrilled when we told him the attorney general says Puget Sound Energy is overcharging its customers and owes more than one million of them a refund.
Over the summer, a Thurston County Superior Court Judge ruled PSE's rate hike plan that extends through 2016 needs re-evaluating, and just this week the AG's office released these numbers -- calling the utility's profit margins inappropriately high at 9.8% and asking for a reduction to 8.65%.
For PSE customers, that would mean a little break on their monthly power bill.
“To hear we might be getting 20 dollars back is a great thing,” said Chad Mitchell from his seat at the bar.
The savings are even bigger for a busy business.
“Oh I'd love to see everything go down,” Buckley concluded.
We called PSE for comment, and a spokesperson said the utility would get back with us.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will hold a hearing on the case next month and make a decision about the rates by March.
KIRO
