Everything is more expensive these days. Gas. Housing. Power. Daycare. A lot of people are in the same boat and most of them are trying to stay afloat.
“You know, we’re at the point now where I’m like, ‘Well, maybe I just won’t eat lunch today,’” shrugged Marci Prag while standing in front of her Cortez Hill condo tower.
“Everything’s going up,” said Jan Paul Sanchez in front of his Chula Vista home.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the rate of inflation in Southern California is the highest it’s been in more than 30 years.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
“And then I’m making 25% less right now for the past two years because my company’s desperately trying to stay in business,” sighed Prag.
Sanchez said he finally decided he and his wife had to make some changes after they got their latest SDG&E bill.
Local
“It jumped up like 65%,” said Sanchez, who’s been in the U.S. Navy for 26 years.
The bill surprised him even more considering he just installed seven more solar panels for a total of 27.
“I’m not using the AC. I don’t use the heat,” he said. “So, you got to start making adjustments. Start not doing some of the things you used to.”
“We don’t eat a lot of hot meals right now because you don’t want to turn on your power,” said Prag. “I’m angry but I can’t spend my time being angry about things because it’s not going to solve the problem.”
However, Prag said she won’t sit around waiting for things to get better.
“I think too many people are getting rich off the backs of people that are really struggling,” she said. “We all need to be a unified front and speak up and say, ‘This is too much.’”
Sign up for our Breaking news newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
Praq said she’s already contacted the California Public Utilities Commission and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s office about her SDG&E bill.
“If I had moved here now verses when I moved here 24 years ago, I don’t think I could make it.”
