Canter’s Deli, the Fairfax Avenue institution that has served Hollywood and Los Angeles locals for nearly a century, has been hit with a utility bill topping $34,000 — close to $10,000 more than what the deli says it normally pays.
“We’ve done nothing differently than we’ve done now for 95 years, yet our bill has skyrocketed,” said Jacqueline Canter, according to a report from the California Post.
Canter’s points to rising electricity prices as the cause. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power disputes that, saying water and sewer charges — not electricity — drove the increase, and has raised the possibility of a leak on the property.
Whatever the specific cause, the bill lands amid a broader pattern of utility shock stories hitting Southern California businesses and households. One San Fernando Valley household was reportedly hit with a roughly $3,300 charge. Across the region, residential customers say their bills have doubled or tripled.
A statewide price problem
California’s average electricity price reached 27.63 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2025 — more than double the national average. Commercial operations like Canter’s, which run refrigerators, ovens and HVAC systems continuously, have little room to absorb costs like that. They either raise prices, cut corners, or close.
State lawmakers have layered renewable energy mandates on top of one another for years, pushing toward a goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045. That target has shifted costs onto the grid system broadly, even as nuclear power — which produces zero emissions but isn’t wind or solar — remains marginal in the state’s energy mix.
Utilities also cite wildfire liability costs and infrastructure spending meant to prevent fires from starting, expenses added on top of a rate structure already strained by policy mandates.
The combined effect has pushed California to some of the highest retail electricity rates in the continental United States, with increases outpacing most other states.
Thin margins, no room to adjust
Most restaurants operate on single-digit profit margins. They cannot absorb double-digit utility increases, let alone the kind of jump Canter’s is reporting. Raising menu prices to cover a sudden spike risks driving customers away entirely.
Labor, rent, insurance and food costs in California are already elevated. A sharp utility increase on top of those fixed costs can be enough to push a business that was otherwise viable into the red.
Canter’s is one of the most visible examples, but business owners across Los Angeles commercial corridors describe the same dynamic playing out. State officials have pointed to investigations and data requests, but the underlying rate structure and energy policy mandates remain unchanged — and ratepayers keep covering the cost.
