JUMP START NEW DWP BOSS MUST HIT THE GROUND RUNNING.

Byline: Richard Nemec Local View

While Los Angeles residents remain essentially immune to the electricity crisis gripping much of the state, they are not totally untouched - as evidenced by the loss at the end of April of the chief honcho at the now-celebrated municipal utility, the Department of Water and Power. Rates are stable and power supplies plentiful.

The exit of the always-vociferous S. David Freeman, 75, from DWP's general managership, to become Gov. Gray Davis' chief energy conservation administrator and eventually, perhaps, the head of the state's new power authority, if the Legislature creates one, leaves a sizable hole for our local political leaders to fill. The question is whether they will turn it into an opportunity or politicize it into a problem.

There is still a good deal of heavy lifting to do from atop the DWP's Bunker Hill headquarters, despite political and economic perceptions making Freeman's nearly four years with the city utility an unabashed success, and thus seemingly leaving a series of slam dunks for his successor in comparison to the extreme woes of DWP's private-sector neighbor, Southern California Edison Co.

DWP needs some new ``big shoes'' filled, but they need not be a variation of the cowboy boots that Freeman fancies, along with his assorted cowboy hats.

No offense to the wily old urban cowpoke, but the city needs someone younger - 40s to mid-50s - who will stay at least a decade, assuming his bosses want him to remain. And the person need not come from a ``nationwide search,'' although the new mayor and City Council may still embark on one.

Whoever takes the job has his work cut out for him: helping the state out of its energy quagmire, building much-needed DWP infrastructure, keeping debt from ballooning again and walking a fine line of capital and environmental improvements in coal-fired out-of-state power plants.

The raw numbers on the surface look too good to be true. The power generation debt that once threatened to overwhelm the city-run utility at the $4.1 billion-level four years ago stands at $1.27 billion today. Extra revenues from the wholesale power market in the past year's crisis sit at several hundred million dollars, although the department is still owed on past-due bills some $180 million from the state and the two financially devastated private sector utilities, Edison and PG&E up north.

Still, the new DWP head will confront tougher questions, such as when will residential and small business customers who have seen their rates frozen throughout Freeman's tenure get their long-promised 10 percent or 20 percent rate decreases.

Harder still, how much, and with what new financing arrangements, will the department pay for badly needed upgrades or expansion of coal-fired power plants in Nevada and Utah in which the city has a substantial stake?

Finally, will the financing and engineering expertise be available to carry out a decade-long, multibillion-dollar upgrade of the city's aging water infrastructure?

And these questions don't even touch on a 10-year, $1.7 billion retooling of DWP's old natural gas-fired L.A. Basin power plants that was approved last year by the department's oversight board and the City Council.

Called the department's ``integrated resource plan,'' the ongoing project is a delicate balance of reliability, price and environmental concerns that will take the right care and feeding by DWP's new leader, and in this case, one of the existing assistant general managers would be in a better position to carry on Freeman's vision.

Another reason to tap an existing veteran from the department is to avoid the need to put a ``personality'' or a political ``star'' in the job.

The new mayor and city council leaders should not become seduced by the idea of national candidates. They should look outside but also take a hard look inside. Several assistant general managers might fit as Freeman's successor. Ask him about candidates.

In addition, the current temporary GM, David Wiggs, 53, a consultant and former local municipal utility executive, might be a serious candidate for the permanent general manager spot. He helped DWP briefly as a consultant in 1997 before Freeman came aboard.

Freeman's public persona may have been very large, indeed. And the governor obviously sees him as the state's electricity czar. But he leaves behind some real challenges larger than his image.

The new DWP head needs to be a problem-solver first, a leader of a talented engineering-based business next, and finally, enough of a politically savvy administrator to satisfy the city's array of politically driven multiple bosses.

The only guarantee is that plenty of people will have ideas for how best to run the city's $3 billion utility - but there is only one general manager charged with getting the job done.