When is a utility rate increase really a local tax increase in disguise?
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is seeking a rate increase of 25 to 30 percent, spread out over five years, in an effort to raise an extra $900 million for power and $230 million for water, a total of $1.13 billion, to fix aging infrastructure and comply with state mandates for renewable energy.
But over the last five years the DWP has taken $1.23 billion of the money customers paid for electricity and transferred it to the City of Los Angeles to be spent on the general expenses of city government. The transfer was $220 million in 2010, $259 million in 2011, $250 million in 2012, $247 million in 2013 and $253 million in 2014.
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