POINTS WEST - Is DWP's Valley rate cut fishy, or is it bait?

Should the area get a summer break on electricity rates because it's hotter there than in other parts of the city, as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has proposed?

"I think it's a great idea," said former actress Collette Matthews at the Studio City library, the third consecutive library patron to endorse the idea in a five-minute span.

But would a break for the Valley be fair to people on the other side of the hill?

"Aren't they richer over there?" asked Sean Macaulay, a screenwriter who was working out at the Sherman Oaks-Van Nuys Recreation Center.

Depends on where you mean by "over there." I'm guessing Pico-Union loses a wage war with Woodland Hills. Maybe we could balance things out a little by charging Valley residents more for Laker tickets.

"I'd love them to cut the rate," said Brett Lowry, a Van Nuys resident and junior high basketball coach who was throwing up some hook shots at an outdoor court. "They're charging too much."

Actually, we pay less for water and power than many surrounding areas. But don't take that to mean you can ever trust the DWP to spend your money wisely, or that you shouldn't suspect there's politics at play in every move the agency makes.

In fact, this Valley rate reduction smells a little fishy. I'm not suggesting Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who endorses the change and just appointed a new DWP boss who seems pretty sharp, is trying to lower his girlfriend's electricity bill in the Valley. Nor would I suggest he's trying to nail down more of the Valley vote in consideration of a possible run for governor one day.

But a cynic might wonder if the Valley reduction is a way to distract attention from the fact that the DWP, just weeks after a power-outage debacle that left thousands without lights for days, wants to raise overall rates. Instead of carping about that, we're all sniping about the two-climate pricing system.

Across the city, there would be incentives for conservation in the proposed rate structure, and I have no beef with that. But in the Valley, customers could potentially catch a bigger break than other customers, as they already do on water rates.

It was the same argument on water. It's hot, so the Valley uses a lot of it, so let's cut them a break.

Is it just me, or does that strike you as somewhat counterintuitive?