C.O.O.L. LA

power0613
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Last week, high temperatures and record demand caused the loss of power to nearly 30,000 Department of Water and Power customers. With Councilmembers Jan Perry, Tom LaBonge, and Wendy Greuel, I announced Operation C.O.O.L. LA to improve our city’s power infrastructure and provide reliable information to customers during emergencies year-round.

In early spring of this year, Councilmember Perry and I brought DWP in to the Energy and Environment Committee to get briefed on how the utility would prevent power outages like those that plagued ratepayers in 2006. While they had undertaken a program of replacing old transformers, they said that they did not expect temperatures to return to 2006 levels. They hadn't taken into account increases due to global warming, only regular weather variations. Long story short: they said they'd be prepared. They weren't.

This week, we'll be holding special hearings in the Energy and the Environment committee, and we'll introduce a motion to commence Operation C.O.O.L. LA:

Customer Service – when the lights go down, you deserve information fast

Operations – audit the system, learn the weak spot, fix the problem

Oversight – LADWP reports to council every month, starting now

Load – create and promote incentives to reduce the demand on the system

We'll be keeping track of the utility's efforts throughout the year, and I'll update you as we make progress.