Check Reddit or Nextdoor, and it won’t take you long to find someone complaining about a pricey Los Angeles Department of Water and Power bill.
It seems many Angelenos are getting sticker shock when they open their statement. But what’s happening here? We looked into it.
How to understand your LADWP bill
LADWP is the major utility provider covering all of L.A. It handles delivery of power and water, and also collects sewer and trash charges on behalf of the city. Angelenos get billed usually every other month.
If you’re a homeowner in the city, it will likely charge you for all these utility costs. If you’re in an apartment, you may pay for everything or only part. For example, your landlord could absorb the water and trash charges, so you pay LADWP for power use only.
Every bill is different, but where people usually feel the biggest pinch is in the power charges. So how do you know if something is too high?
You can look at the summary of charges on your billing statement, which breaks down how much of each service you used and how much you’re getting charged for it.
For power, it’s per kilowatt hour.
“The cents per kilowatt hour has gone up little by little,” said Ann Santilli, LADWP’s chief financial officer. “I think it’s right now it’s about 23 cents on average.”
She said that includes a 1 cent increase they’re anticipating for July.
“If you look at your usage and multiply it by that 23 cents, that should be close to what your bill is,” Santilli added.
Once you’ve run the math, if your calculations don’t match your bill, you can ask for LADWP to check to see if there’s a mistake.
DID YOU KNOW?
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LADWP has programming that looks for abnormal changes, but you can also ask the utility provider to re-read your meters if something seems off.
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It’s complimentary once a year, and if it’s discovered that you were mischarged, that doesn’t count toward your one re-read. You can ask for it more than once, but there will be a fee for it.
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To start that process, call LADWP’s customer service line at 1-800-342-5397.
If you don’t know how much you should be using, you may want to chat with your neighbors. Sometimes just talking with people who have a similar home size can be a quick way to find out if charges are normal. But keep in mind that lifestyle differences like working from home all day could lead to big variances.
If you feel your energy use is too high, there may be something else going on. It may be worth getting a professional to do a home energy assessment. They’ll look for air leaks, inefficient appliances and more. You can also DIY the assessment, but it may not be as thorough.
LADWP also has energy efficiency staff that can help you look at how your appliances are affecting your bill, Santilli said.
You can learn more about how the rates work at LADWP’s website.
- Check if there’s been a recent rate increase
LADWP approved a budget in July 2023 that included an energy rate increase to cover things like infrastructure maintenance (this is already in effect). Santilli explained what it meant by using a common residential customer’s use, which is about 300-kilowatt hours of energy a month.
“We did see a bill go from approximately $59 to $65,” Santilli said. “Since that time, that $65 bill has come down a little bit, and that’s just because some of the projects that we were hoping to get completed, they didn’t happen.”
Some of those charges were assuming that LADWP would have additional people on staff to get certain work done, or planning ahead for things like higher fuel costs.
This year, on the power side, they’re expecting that increase after June. Santilli said the system average rate will go up about 1 cent per kilowatt hour. So, on a 300-kilowatt-hour bill, it would be about a $3 a month increase.
On the water side, the rate is going up on July 1. Santilli said the water bill right now for a customer who uses 10 billing units per month is about $95. That bill is going to go up by about $12.
Ways to keep your LADWP bill in check
If you get a high bill, you do have some options, like a payment arrangement. But it’s a smarter idea to try and plan ahead. LADWP has a Level Pay Plan that averages out your bill over the year, so you pay less during high-usage times, and a little bit more during low-usage times.
You can check if you’re eligible for the EZ-SAVE program, which is their low-income discount program. Santilli said you can save about $20 if you’re billed bimonthly. You don’t need to show proof of income to enroll, but LADWP may inquire about your eligibility later.
“There’s a lot of people out there who qualify for these programs, but have not signed up for them,” said Jenn Engstrom, state director for the California Public Interest Research Group, which speaks out for consumers across the state. “So that’s just the first thing is if you qualify for one of these programs, you should definitely look into it and take advantage of that.”
LADWP’s EZ-SAVE and Lifeline customers don’t get their utilities cut off for nonpayment, a motion that the board adopted in 2022. The shutoff restriction also applies to all LADWP customers during extreme weather events.
State and federal help is available for your bill too, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Concern about utility increases
Expensive utility bills in general have been an issue for a long time.
Engstrom said our utility bills are some of the highest in the country, but that it comes from expensive delivery rates, not necessarily the electricity cost itself.
“We’ve had people just email us as a consumer group asking, you know, why this is happening, what they can do about it,” Engstrom said. “We need to look under the hood and figure out exactly what's going on here.”
She sees reasonable causes for expensive bills, like maintenance costs for long-distance power lines and wildfire liability. But she believes there are also less reasonable things happening, like a drive for profits. LADWP’s new general manager and her $750,000 salary doesn’t help optics, either.
Showing up to public meetings to speak can help, she said, even if it’s not immediate. LADWP meets twice a month.
“I think it’s worth being loud, making your voice heard, whether or not they’re specifically listening to you,” Engstrom said. “If it's more helping to add to that overall pressure, I think it’s worth it for sure.”
