LADWP customers reach boiling point as residents blast soaring bills at heated meeting

Furious Angelenos blasted LADWP commissioners Tuesday over soaring utility bills, demanding an audit of massive employee overtime payouts as the city-owned utility urges cash-strapped customers to conserve water and power.The outrage erupted at the Board of Water and Power Commissioners meeting, where residents described bills soaring into the hundreds and even thousands of dollars.Micah Reed, a San Fernando Valley resident who received a staggering $3,322.01 LADWP bill, including $2,114.52 in electricity charges, attended the meeting after launching a Change.org petition calling for an independent audit and summer rate relief.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story His petition collected more than 39,000 signatures in less than four weeks, which he delivered to the commission Tuesday.“I’m not here to argue about how much power my family used,” Reed told commissioners.“I am here because I can’t tell how my bill was calculated.”“There are adjustment charges on it that no customer can check, and no one has been able to show me the math,” he said.Reed welcomed calls for an independent audit but questioned when one would actually begin.“Calling for an audit isn’t the same as doing one,” he said.Cheyenne Gutierrez, who lives with her mother in a two-bedroom apartment at Park La Brea, testified that their bill had surged from roughly $150 to nearly $900.She said their air-conditioning habits had not changed, with the thermostat consistently set at 74 or 75 degrees.Gutierrez, who suffers from seizures and physical disabilities, explained that her mother is her caregiver and the household survives on limited income.“We’re just doing what we can to survive,” she told commissioners.But before residents could speak, commission president Allan Marks s...