Dwp Customers

Re "Electric utilities waging a power struggle," April 20 It is fair for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers to pay more for electricity. For years, its rates have been artificially low because of the DWP's purchase of cheap, dirty coal power. While people living downwind from the out-of-state coal plants are paying the cost with their health, DWP customers pay a low flat rate, which does nothing to discourage waste. The private utilities have tiered rates, with the highest ones just more than 30 cents a kilowatt hour.

If you bumped into the guy, you probably wouldn't recognize him. Chances are, you've never even heard of him. But he's one of the most powerful players in Los Angeles politics, and he's swinging for the fences again, using his considerable clout to boost mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel and a slate of City Council candidates who just might be inclined to serve his interests if they're elected. Feared, coveted, respected, reviled - union boss Brian D'Arcy is all those things. But he likes to pull strings from behind the curtains and generally doesn't stoop low enough to speak to pesky media folks.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power commissioners on Thursday approved new subsidies for low-income residents, which could trim about 15% off the average water and power bill for low-income residents. Water bills for disadvantaged families could be cut by $1.98 a month and electricity bills by $3.35 a month under the plan, which must be approved by the City Council. Others would see an increase of less than 1% in their bills to make up the difference, DWP officials said.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers for the first time will be able to sell back excess solar energy created on rooftops and parking lots under a new program approved Friday by the city utility's board of commissioners. Described as the largest urban rooftop solar program of its kind in the nation, the so-called feed-in-tariff program would pay customers 17 cents per kilowatt hour for energy produced on their own equipment. The DWP has already accepted more than a dozen applicants and will be taking dozens more as it accepts contracts for up to 100 megawatts of solar power through 2016.

The letter by UCLA Chancellor Young is as good a piece of special pleading and disinformation as we've seen in a long time. (Times, Sept. 2) The chancellor mentions an outside source for power that is both too expensive and unreliable and must therefore be replaced to provide better service to the UCLA campus. What the chancellor does not mention is that the outside power source is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and that UCLA is its biggest customer. All power systems are subject to very occasional outages.

Four hundred Department of Water and Power customers in Tarzana lost their electricity early Saturday when a pickup truck crashed into a power pole, a DWP spokeswoman said. The outage began at 3 a.m., and half of the customers, near Corbin Avenue and Rosita Street, had their power restored by 5 a.m., said spokeswoman Elizabeth Wimmer. The rest of the homes had power restored by 9:05 a.m., Wimmer said. Police said they responded to a 3:05 a.m.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is moving ahead with a plan requiring customers of the Department of Water and Power to pay higher bills to help the utility tap more sources of renewable energy. While Villaraigosa has been talking publicly about the need for the city to tighten its belt, his advisors have been working behind the scenes to gauge public support for a monthly DWP "carbon surcharge" of $2.50 -- one that would move the utility away from coal and toward wind, solar and geothermal sources of energy.

If you bumped into the guy, you probably wouldn't recognize him. Chances are, you've never even heard of him. But he's one of the most powerful players in Los Angeles politics, and he's swinging for the fences again, using his considerable clout to boost mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel and a slate of City Council candidates who just might be inclined to serve his interests if they're elected. Feared, coveted, respected, reviled - union boss Brian D'Arcy is all those things. But he likes to pull strings from behind the curtains and generally doesn't stoop low enough to speak to pesky media folks.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been seeking a quartet of electric rate hikes to help pay for his renewable energy programs and existing expenses, such as the fluctuating cost of coal. Those increases, which are currently on hold, would have had a wide range of effects on residential ratepayers' monthly bills, depending on where they live and how much energy they consume: TIER 1 Those who use the least amount of power (58% of DWP customers) San Fernando Valley (and some warmer neighborhoods)

Leon Furgatch's article "Bill Would End Mayor's Raid of DWP to Expand Police" (Valley Commentary, June 11) touches on several important points. First, the transfer of city Department of Water and Power surplus funds to the city does indeed constitute a hidden tax on us DWP customers. That is contrary to the spirit of Proposition 13. In addition, the elimination of the transfer should help reduce our already very reasonable water and electric rates and require the city to operate effectively and responsibly.

As utility crews raced Tuesday to repair six water main breaks that stretched from the Hollywood Freeway on the east to La Cienega Boulevard on the west, the general manager of the Department of Water and Power stood before the agency's Board of Commissioners and requested a series of steep rate increases over the next two years. Ron Nichols, who first argued for increases last summer, said a 5% water rate hike and a 10.5% electrical hike over two years were critical if the department hoped to comply with environmental mandates, renovate its coastal power plants and accelerate the replacement of water mains throughout the city.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been seeking a quartet of electric rate hikes to help pay for his renewable energy programs and existing expenses, such as the fluctuating cost of coal. Those increases, which are currently on hold, would have had a wide range of effects on residential ratepayers' monthly bills, depending on where they live and how much energy they consume: TIER 1 Those who use the least amount of power (58% of DWP customers) San Fernando Valley (and some warmer neighborhoods)

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's political team has spent the last two months talking up the need for the Department of Water and Power to adopt a so-called carbon surcharge, one that would require ratepayers to pay more to cover the cost of renewable energy. Now, that proposal has been incorporated into a larger increase, which would also force DWP customers to pay more to cover the cost of fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, which generate much of the utility's electricity.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is moving ahead with a plan requiring customers of the Department of Water and Power to pay higher bills to help the utility tap more sources of renewable energy. While Villaraigosa has been talking publicly about the need for the city to tighten its belt, his advisors have been working behind the scenes to gauge public support for a monthly DWP "carbon surcharge" of $2.50 -- one that would move the utility away from coal and toward wind, solar and geothermal sources of energy.

Faced with another year of drought, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is offering customers a cash incentive to replace their grass lawns with drought-tolerant plants. The Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program will credit single-family residential customers $1 for each square foot of turf removed and replaced with drought-tolerant plants, mulch and water-permeable hardscapes, DWP officials said in a statement Tuesday. New landscaping plans must be approved by the DWP before they are implemented and evidence of installation must be provided to receive the rebate, the statement said.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed an ordinance Thursday that doubles fines for residents who repeatedly violate the city's "drought buster" rules, including a reworked ban on watering lawns between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The measure bars restaurants from serving water to customers unless it is specifically requested. And the ordinance will quadruple fines for large customers of the Department of Water and Power, mainly businesses, that break the city's water-waster law. "L.A.'

Faced with another year of drought, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is offering customers a cash incentive to replace their grass lawns with drought-tolerant plants. The Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program will credit single-family residential customers $1 for each square foot of turf removed and replaced with drought-tolerant plants, mulch and water-permeable hardscapes, DWP officials said in a statement Tuesday. New landscaping plans must be approved by the DWP before they are implemented and evidence of installation must be provided to receive the rebate, the statement said.

Re "Electric utilities waging a power struggle," April 20 It is fair for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers to pay more for electricity. For years, its rates have been artificially low because of the DWP's purchase of cheap, dirty coal power. While people living downwind from the out-of-state coal plants are paying the cost with their health, DWP customers pay a low flat rate, which does nothing to discourage waste. The private utilities have tiered rates, with the highest ones just more than 30 cents a kilowatt hour.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lobbied state legislators Wednesday against what he termed a "rip-off" of Los Angeles residents by state officials, making his plea during a trip to the state Capitol that also renewed buzz about whether he will run for governor in 2010.