Small Colorado mountain restaurant gets massive Xcel Energy bill [Video]

MINTURN, Colo. — In the mountains, the cost of living is just a bit more.

At Thai Kitchen in Minturn, just outside Vail, the cost of living in the mountains took an unexpected turn.

“The bill is shocking me because it’s a big number,” Patty, owner of Thai Kitchen, said.

Her restaurant seats about two dozen. It is only open five hours a day, five days a week.

In January, she received an Xcel bill that showed her restaurant used 999,929 kWh (kilowatt hours) of energy over seven days in December.

An average home uses about 10,000 kWh of energy in a year.

That amount equals about 100 years’ worth of electricity for a home.

That amount of energy totaled $110,000.

When you add in the rest of the month, the gas part of the bill and the …