The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s proposed “Customer Bill of Rights” offered up last week could be a welcome reprieve from years of disconcerting developments at the city-run utility. You might recall the faulty billing system that overcharged customers to the tune of $67.5 million. Or perhaps the DWP’s controversial practice of placing $4 million a year in two secretive trusts run by the agency and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 rings a bell, along with the utility’s subsequent court battle to prevent city officials from auditing those payments – a fight the DWP eventually lost.
The small-business provisions included in the proposal include a guarantee that new service connections of 200 amps or less be completed within 10 business days after a final inspection. If the agency falls short of that goal, customers would be entitled to a $25 credit.
It’s a good start, but given the department’s history there’s reason to be skeptical that much will change. A $25 credit for delays in service connections? Really? That’s not even a pittance compared with the money lost by entrepreneur Seth Manheimer, whose Set and Flow Yoga missed out on tens of thousands of dollars in potential revenue last year after the studio’s opening was pushed back a month due to water and power service connection delays. (See page 5.)
Let’s be clear: It’s not $25 for each day a service connection is pushed back – it’s just $25. Where’s the incentive for the DWP to stay on top of things?
When you consider that DWP routinely sees employees double their salaries by running up overtime, it seems unlikely that discounting utility bills by $25 each time a deadline is missed will get much notice in the Ferraro Building.
Still, the initiative is a step in the right direction, and the commission ought to pass the bill of rights when it meets next week and the department should be given time to live up to its word.
If the program proves a success, it should be expanded, offering the same guarantees of speedy service to larger businesses, which stand to lose a lot more money should service delays rear their head.
