Increases in gas will cost local businesses

Published 4:05 pm Thursday, April 30, 2009

By Jessica Keller, The Courier-Herald

Enumclaw homeowners may be griping about the rising costs of their natural gas bills, but Enumclaw's Tom DeSanto knows the natural gas increases don't only affect homeowners, they can affect businesses as well.

DeSanto, owner of DeSanto's Greenhouses, said his business is probably second-largest consumer of natural gas in Enumclaw, behind the school district.

He purchases his natural gas from Enumclaw, and as rates have increased these past few years, so have his expenses, and this is the first year, some of the cost will have to be passed on to the customer.

DeSanto said when he first started buying natural gas from the city, he was paying about 56 cents a therm, whereas now he is paying about 80 cents.

He uses the natural gas to provide heat for all 36 of his greenhouses, which are 3,300 square feet each. While two-thirds of the plants DeSanto sells are kept at 40 degree temperatures, the other third, such as the fuchsias, ivy geraniums and poinsettias must be kept at 68 degrees. A few rooms at the greenhouses, which he calls sweat rooms, are kept at 80 degrees for certain parts of the growing processes.

While the heat goes off during a few months of the year, DeSanto said they start maintaining rooms at 68 degrees, beginning in late July.

DeSanto said his natural gas costs for the month of November this year, the first month the natural gas increases were implemented, were $6,225, and DeSanto anticipates his costs could exceed $50,000 in 2004.

DeSanto said he hasn't had to raise the prices of his plants in two years, and isn't happy he has to pass the cost on this year.

"Overall, it's not that bad," DeSanto said, adding the price can just be tacked on to each plant, which will be about five cents a plant.

And actually, it could be a lot worse, DeSanto said, as the greenhouses built are all pretty efficient. He said instead of being made of glass, the greenhouses are energy and heat efficient, made of polyglass, with the ceiling made up of two layers of the plastic.

All temperatures in the greenhouses are regulated by a main computer, adjusting the temperatures as necessary, which is another way, DeSanto said, they are cost efficient.

"Without the computer we would probably spend even more on natural gas," he said.

This winter has also been pretty mild, DeSanto said, compared with last winter, and temperatures are not getting too chilly, limiting the amount of natural gas they have had to use.

Still DeSanto said he would like to see the natural gas prices decrease, so the business is not affected too much more.

DeSanto said he doesn't think they will lose any business due to the increases in plant prices, but doesn't want to make any more adjustments, unless it is to lower the cost, any time soon.

"We try to pass on just as little as we can," DeSanto said.

Jessica Keller can be reached at jkeller@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald