DWP WANTS MORE MONEY WATER, POWER HIKES SOUGHT FOR UPGRADES.Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. residents would pay 6 percent more for water and 9 percent more for electricity over the next two years to cover the cost of replacing the city's outdated utility systems, DWP DWP Department of Work and Pensions (UK) DWP Drinking Water Program DWP Dynamic Weapon Pricing (gamin, Counter-Strike: Source) DWP Department of Water & Power DWP Drinking Water Protection officials said Tuesday. The rate hikes are part of a $4 billion budget for fiscal 2007-08 that was tentatively approved by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners. While the agency plans to consult with neighborhood councils Neighborhood councils are governmental or non-governmental bodies composed of local people who handle neighborhood problems. They can be found in many cities throughout the world. and hold at least six public hearings before adopting the rates in October, board members indicated they support the proposed hikes. "I think we have to face up to the investments that we must make. We have to have a very honest conversation with the people of Los Angeles that those investments don't happen for free," said board President H. David Nahai. "When people realize you have choices to make between outages on the one hand and investing in reliability on the other hand, I think the people of L.A. will vote for the investments we're proposing. "I think I can, with a very clear conscious, support it." The rate increases come as the DWP launches a five-year, $1 billion plan to upgrade its power system, which suffered massive outages during last summer's record-breaking heat wave. Much of the DWP's power system -- poles, cables and circuits -- were installed in the post-World War II building boom and need to be replaced. At the same time, the utility is trying to expedite ex·pe·dite tr.v. ex·pe·dit·ed, ex·pe·dit·ing, ex·pe·dites 1. To speed up the progress of; accelerate. 2. repairs to the water system, while training and hiring more employees to handle construction and maintenance. "I believe the investments we're going to make are very important to the future of the city," DWP General Manager Ronald Deaton said. "These rates pay for the investments we need to make in both the water system and power system over the next three to five years, maybe a decade." DWP officials said they have clamped down on wasteful spending, and that Los Angeles residents pay among the lowest rates in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. , which serves most residents outside the city of Los Angeles
But the city-run utility will likely face some criticism from ratepayers because of its history of free-spending on public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most , extracurricular programs for employees and contracts with outside firms. "For many years they have been squandering squan·der tr.v. squan·dered, squan·der·ing, squan·ders 1. To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate. See Synonyms at waste. 2. our money in those ways, and I haven't yet seen anything where they have cut the bureaucracy," said Reseda Neighborhood Council President Garth garth n. 1. A grassy quadrangle surrounded by cloisters. 2. Archaic A yard, garden, or paddock. [Middle English, enclosed yard, from Old Norse gardhr; see Carlson. "If they would get their house in order, I wouldn't have a problem with a rate increase because, let's face it, our infrastructure is terrible." Upgrades priority Soledad Garcia, who heads a coalition of neighborhood councils that oversees DWP issues, said upgrading the infrastructure should be the utility's first priority -- even if it means cutting other programs or the millions of dollars it transfers annually to the city's general fund. "The 40 to 70 years of deferred maintenance, that should be your top priority, even to the detriment of your annual transfer and special projects that are not directly related to water projects," Garcia told the board. The proposed utility hikes come slightly more than a year after the city imposed a $7-a-month trash fee to pay to expand the Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . .
They would start in January, when a 2.9 percent increase would kick in. Officials estimate that would raise an average customer's bimonthly bi·month·ly adj. 1. Happening every two months. 2. Happening twice a month; semimonthly. adv. 1. Once every two months. 2. Twice a month; semimonthly. n. pl. bill by roughly $3.50. Hikes in phases Six months later in July 2008, the average customer's bill would go up an additional $5.50 when power and water rates both increase by roughly 3 percent. The final installment of water and power hikes comes in July 2009, adding another $5.50 to the average customer bill. In areas like the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. -- where large lots and soaring summer temperatures result in higher water use -- bimonthly bills are expected to jump $6 in both 2008 and 2009. The water-rate increases would generate $101 million to cover the cost of replacing aging pipelines, repairing environmental damage in the Owens Valley This article has multiple issues: * It needs to be expanded. * It may need copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. -- the source of most of the city's water -- and covering open reservoirs to meet water-quality requirements. The DWP increased water rates last year by 2.75 percent, raising the average bill by $24 a year. Rates will go up again by 2.75 percent on July 1. The power-rate increases would generate $316 million for upgrades in power transmission lines, transformers and overall electrical reliability. This would be the first increase to base power rates since 1992. kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 DWP RATES Here are the basic rate hikes approved Tuesday for Department of Water and Power customers. Actual percentages will vary slightly on customer bills. WATER RATES 2004: 11% (first increase since 1993) 2005: None 2006: 2.75% 2007: 2.75% 2008*: 3.1% in July. 2009*: 3.1% in July. POWER RATES 2004: None 2005: None 2006: 2.5% 2007: 3.9% 2008*: 2.9% in January; 2.9% in July. 2009*: 2.7% in July. *Proposed CAPTION(S): box Box: DWP RATES (see text) |
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