CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 21, 2010 | By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times
Executives with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Tuesday issued a sharply worded defense of their decision to withhold $73.5 million from city coffers in the middle of a recent fight over electricity rates, saying they did so to protect the utility's credit rating and its customers. During a lively exchange with City Council members, several of whom made no effort to disguise their disdain for the DWP, current and former managers of the nation's largest municipally owned utility responded to a report that accused them of misleading both the council and the public about the agency's financial health.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 15, 2010 | By David Zahniser And Phil Willon
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.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 8, 2010 | By Maeve Reston, David Zahniser and Phil Willon
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.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
March 30, 2010 | By David Zahniser
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.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
March 26, 2010 | By David Zahniser
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.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
March 26, 2010 | By David Zahniser
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.