Utility Rates

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.

Newly installed Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson engineered another shake-up at City Hall on Friday, stripping rival lawmakers Bernard C. Parks and Jan Perry of key committee chairmanships that had major influence over the city budget crisis and utility rates. The move is expected to widen the bitter divide between Wesson and the council's only other African American members, who are at odds with the council president over proposed new political district boundaries.

I am thankful that you gave equal time in reporting on Prop. 9 (Sept. 27), the initiative to block the bailout of the utility industry by California ratepayers. However, there are errors I would like to address. The writer says the legislative analyst agrees that the passing of Prop. 9 will lead to tax increases. On the contrary, the state legislative analyst's office has studied Prop. 9 more carefully than any other ballot measure. They did not put the possibility of a tax increase in the voter's pamphlet as it was too misleading, and in the words of deputy legislative analyst Mac Taylor, "It just seemed almost inconceivable."

Galen Dean of Yucaipa has worked on and off for Southern California Edison Co. for 29 years. As he puts it, he's done "pretty much everything except climb poles. " When he retires in four years he expects to get about $1,500 a month from his Edison pension plan. And he has no problem with the fact that ratepayers will foot the bill for at least a portion of those payments. "It's totally justified," said Dean, 59. "Our salaries are lower than what private enterprises pay. The pension helps make up for that.

The noise being generated in Washington and Sacramento over who is to blame for California's energy crisis brings to mind the adage that when hippos begin to fight, it is the ants who should worry. I work with a health care/social services agency that receives numerous calls from people asking for help with their electricity, gas and water bills.

With San Diego residents steaming over soaring electricity bills, California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said Wednesday he will investigate the recent power price spikes. "We are investigating decisions that led up to the current rate increase in San Diego. Obviously if any individual or company has acted illegally I intend to identify and punish those behaviors," Lockyer told Reuters. "San Diegans urgently need short-term relief from skyrocketing electricity bills.

The City Council voted Tuesday to delay a vote on proposed water and electricity rate hikes until late February -- after voters decide the fate of a $243-million telephone utility users tax. Council members said they wanted more answers from newly hired DWP General Manager H. David Nahai on the utility's efforts to address staffing shortages and fix aging infrastructure.

A state lawmaker who hopes to become mayor of the proposed San Fernando Valley city moved Thursday to protect Valley ratepayers from what he said would be unfair water and power prices if the region secedes. State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) introduced legislation that would prohibit Los Angeles from charging higher utility rates.

The City Council voted Tuesday to postpone consideration of a utility rate increase, saying the city staff has not persuaded the council it was necessary. The proposed increase, which would raise an average resident's utility bill by $2.24 a month, will now be considered Feb. 23. Daly, along with Councilmen Frank Feldhause and Fred Hunter, voted for the delay.

The Burbank City Council has taken steps to raise household utility rates an average of 40 cents a month under a plan to help the financially strapped Burbank School District by reducing its utility bills. The council instructed the city attorney Tuesday to prepare a resolution that would reduce by half the district's yearly fees for refuse collection, electricity, and sewer and water service. The reduction would be covered by the raise in household utility bills.

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.

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.

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 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.

The Burbank City Council voted Tuesday to give city administrators authority to require that applicants for Lifeline--a program offering reduced utility rates to needy residents and seniors--provide city officials with proof of income. Under the new policy approved by the council, the city may now ask all applicants to provide copies of their state and federal income tax returns when applying for Lifeline exemptions. The policy would affect about 2,300 households.

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.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's appointees at the Department of Water and Power took the first step Thursday toward imposing electric rate increases of up to 28%, despite complaints from neighborhood activists and business groups. On a 4-0 vote, the board agreed to increase the cost of electricity by 0.8 of a cent per kilowatt hour, the first of four increases planned over the next year to help the nation's largest municipal utility cover its financial commitments and continue Villaraigosa's plan for securing more renewable power.