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No-Strings Ratepayer Advocate a Must |
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DWP Watch Dog
By Jack Humphreville
Council Member Jose Huizar’s call for an independent Rate Payers Advocate for DWP is most welcome, especially since the Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners Ad Hoc Rate Payers Advocate Committee rejected it out of hand last month.
But there is still concern about the independence and capabilities of
this proposed Rate Payers Advocate and the ability of the Neighborhood
Councils to get unbiased and timely information and analysis on DWP’s
operations, finances and management, especially if it is politically
sensitive, as well as monitor programs for low income, senior and
disabled customers.
Although DWP continually argues that there is plenty of oversight, none of the current oversight involves the rigorous and thorough analysis that is required of investor owned utilities. Just look at what the Public Utilities Commission and its Division of Rate Payers Advocate require. It is no wonder all the oversight has been driven to political appointees - openness and transparency can be touted as fact even though it remains as elusive as ever to the Rate Payers.
The DWP Board of Commissioners claims to be our Watch Dog, and to some degree it may have been when Nick Patsaouras was there. But now, where is the Board on the multibillion dollar Green Initiative? What public outreach has been held? Indeed, the City Council is asking questions that DWP won’t even report back on for months. Who is watching out for the Rate Payers when its main union has a stranglehold not only on labor, but on management too?
And isn’t this same City Council that recently approved, without a dissenting vote, the multibillion dollar Green Initiative without the benefit of DWP’s analysis, a thorough vetting by the Energy and Environment Committee, or even informing the Rate Payers and Neighborhood Councils, despite the fact that the monopoly elements of the initiative could easily cost Rate Payer hundreds of millions of dollars?
The issue of transparency and the undue influence of the union’s campaign war chest are not confined to DWP, but also impact the perception of the City in the eyes of the business and investment community.
On Friday, November 7, the same day that the City Council passed the IBEW sponsored Green Initiative; the Legislative Economic Action Plan (“LEAP”) was introduced to the City Council by the submission of 13 motions signed by nine Council Members. A key component is the participation of business and investment community.
If this community does not believe that it is getting a fair deal, investment and good jobs will go elsewhere. But the approval of an independent Rate Payers Advocate represents an excellent opportunity for the City and its elected officials to show that they are prepared to LEAP forward and operate in an open and transparent environment.
A watchdog on a leash has limited value.
(Jack Humphreville is a publisher with a background in financial analysis. Humphreville is Vice President of the watch dog group DWP Committee and writes for CityWatch.) ◘
CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 92
Pub: Nov 14, 2008
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