My power bill rivals my mortgage. Los Angeles, please show us the math

When I opened our LADWP bill in late September, my jaw hit the floor. We owed $3,322.01 for two months of water and power, and more than $2,100 of that was electricity alone.I checked the account number twice.

It was ours.I live in the San Fernando Valley with my wife and two sons.Out here, summer heat often tops 100 degrees and sometimes 105, so we kept the thermostat at 74.

That isn’t a luxury.In the Valley, it’s basic survival for families and pets.

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I posted a video venting about it on TikTok and X, expecting just a few friends to commiserate.I asked if I was secretly powering a crypto mine for the whole Valley, or if LADWP just figured I’d pay my mortgage twice that month. Instead, it got close to a million views, and thousands of Angelenos wrote back saying the exact same thing: Our utility bills are now rivaling our mortgages and rent payments.Wow.

After that, I sat down and read all six pages of the bill.We used 5,358 kilowatt-hours over 60 days.That’s more than last summer, because it was hotter and the AC ran more. But look at how LADWP prices it. The first 1,000 kilowatt-hours cost about 26 cents each and the next 2,000 cost about 32 cents, and after that every one of them costs almost 41 cents.

We had 2,358 of those. The bill says the tiers are there “to provide an incentive to conserve electricity.” I’d love to know what I was supposed to conserve when it was 105 outside. California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!Seems like a Heat Tax:...