Los Angeles Department Of Water And Power

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced Tuesday that it has shelved plans for a 970-acre solar farm near the Salton Sea, just as members of the City Council signaled that they were unprepared to support the project. The DWP's interim general manager, S. David Freeman, said he was troubled by the costs of the 55-megawatt project, which had been slated to go up on land purchased by the utility in 2006. Freeman made his comments moments after Councilwoman Jan Perry, who heads the council's Energy and the Environment Committee, said she planned to send the solar project back to the DWP for more work.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to name First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as the interim head of the controversial Department of Water and Power, mayoral aides said Sunday. Beutner, a former investment banker who was hired by the mayor to bring business to Los Angeles, will continue to oversee 13 city agencies after he becomes interim general manager. He replaces S. David Freeman, who stepped down last Monday after holding the job for six months. The Times reported last week that Beutner, who makes $1 a year, was planning to take the job. During a bitter feud over a Villaraigosa-backed rate increase, City Council members accused DWP officials of lying and threatened to exert control over the utility's budget and its board, changes that would require voter approval.

Francis Pedneau, a Lone Pine contractor, went fishing at Haiwee Reservoir in the lower Owens Valley one day last June, using himself as bait. A caretaker employee of the Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power bit. "They tried to run me out," Pedneau said. "I said no. That had never happened to them before. They'd tell people they were trespassing, and nobody ever refused to go." When the DWP man said he would call the Inyo County Sheriff's Dept., Pedneau said: "Fine. I'll be right here .

The Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reached a breakthrough Wednesday in their standoff over electrical rates, with the council narrowly sending another proposed increase back to the Department of Water and Power for a vote. On an 8-5 vote, the council approved a 4.5% rate increase -- the same amount that it backed two weeks ago, only to be rebuffed by the mayor's appointees on the DWP board.

With daylight savings time ending Sunday, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Bureau of Street Lighting is urging residents to report faulty streetlights. Calls about equipment needing repair or replacement may be placed to (800) 342-5397 or (213) 847-5368.

The board of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power voted Tuesday to reinstate its program that provides financial incentives to businesses and homeowners who install solar electric systems. The $159-million program had stopped accepting applications after a flood of requests. The board voted to revise the program and to fund it through 2011.

The general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power notified the agency's employees Thursday that he has dropped out of contention for a private sector job so he can continue to run the municipal utility. General Manager David Wiggs had notified the DWP board two months ago that he was vying for a position as chief executive of an unnamed private firm.

The general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has been diagnosed as having tongue cancer and is going on disability leave for treatment expected to last at least three months. Until David H. Wiggs can return, the department's chief administrative officer, Frank Salas, will act as general manager, officials said Monday. Mayor James K. Hahn supported the plan and wished Wiggs a speedy recovery, a spokeswoman said.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's board directed its managers Tuesday to meet with neighborhood groups and business owners to explain a plan to increase renewable energy sources to 20% of the power mix by 2010 -- seven years ahead of the current schedule. Renewable resources will include wind, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, small hydroelectricity and solar power.

A consulting firm plans to file a claim today against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power alleging the agency unfairly backed away from a $2.7-million contract extension and hadn't paid its bills. OFS, the Business Doctors, developed and operated an Internet-based purchasing system for the city agency. Henry Martinez, acting general manager of the DWP, said the agency has fulfilled its obligations to make payments.

Los Angeles has grown by about a million people in the last three decades, but you wouldn't know it from the way water has been trickling out of taps and sprinklers. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported Monday that water usage in the city reached a 31-year low for the month of February, dropping more than 20% compared with the same period in 2007. Officials tied the decrease to water rationing that went into effect in 2007. The rationing was prompted by the ongoing regional drought.

City Council members sought to tighten their grip over Los Angeles' public utility Wednesday, after an influential Wall Street firm lowered the city's bond rating based in part on "the increased political contention" swirling around the budget at City Hall. With council members angry about the refusal of executives at the Department of Water and Power to turn over $73.5 million in "surplus revenue" that they were counting on to help balance the budget, City Controller Wendy Greuel announced that she would immediately conduct a four-week audit of the utility's power operation.

Days after City Council members balked at his proposal for boosting electricity prices, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa threw his weight Monday behind Councilman Richard Alarcon's plan to approve the first of four rate hikes -- while putting the next three under greater scrutiny. With another council vote set for Tuesday, Villaraigosa described Alarcon's plan as a compromise that would preserve his "lockbox" for renewable energy and conservation programs at the Department of Water and Power.

The man chosen by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the city's "jobs czar" three months ago is in talks to take on an additional assignment: running the Department of Water and Power. Villaraigosa is considering naming First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as the DWP's interim general manager while the search continues for a permanent top executive, sources said Sunday. The DWP's current interim executive, S. David Freeman, is scheduled to step down within weeks. He has been promoting the mayor's package of residential electric rate hikes, which range from 9% to 28% depending on a household's location and power usage.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday rejected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan for boosting electric rates, sending the proposal back to the Department of Water and Power even as members promised to continue working on an alternative plan next week. The decision, made on a 13-1 vote, was viewed by some as procedural, given that the council is scheduled to take up the issue of rate hikes again on Tuesday, first in a committee and then on the council floor. Several members have already said they think some form of increase is needed to safeguard the municipal utility's financial health.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is planning to boost the electricity bills of its customers by 37% over the next four years as part of its effort to cover steadily rising costs. Officials with the city utility divulged their plans Thursday as the City Council's Energy and Environment Committee debated Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan for boosting rates to help pay for renewable energy. Villaraigosa is seeking a 21% increase over the next year. That effort will be followed by other rate hikes by 2014, however.

Eight North Hollywood apartment buildings were evacuated after a pumping station leaked a potentially toxic chlorine solution, a fire spokesman said. A neighbor reported a strange odor about 4:30 a.m. near the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's North Hollywood Pumping Station, at Vanowen Street and Morella Avenue, Brian Humphrey said. One person was treated at the scene after apparently breathing the fumes, Humphrey said. Residents were allowed to return home about 10:40 a.m., he said.

A work crew accidentally ruptured pipes leading to a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power water tank, sending mud and debris down a hillside Saturday, officials said. No injuries or damage were reported. The rupture occurred on the 4100 block of North Portola Avenue, said MaryAnne Pierson, a DWP spokeswoman. About 500,000 gallons spilled between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., she said. The crew had been working for a private contractor, Pierson said.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to boost rates at the Department of Water and Power has drawn an outcry from business leaders who fear that his promise to create "green jobs" will be accomplished at the expense of their own workers. As he pushes the City Council to approve rate increases of up to 22% for businesses, Villaraigosa's clean-air ambitions have run head-first into his job goals -- and his promise to treat L.A.-based companies with extra care. Villaraigosa delighted business leaders two months ago when he hired a retired investment banker as his new "jobs czar" and offered to refocus his administration on the economy.