As Inyo and Mono officials wrangle with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power grasping at the water here, they found a Los Angeles Times story interesting this week. It suggests that while DWP may not want to spend more money to buy water, the utility is spending plenty on salaries. The LA Times story says a new report shows that LADWP salaries are “significantly” higher than those paid by other public and private utilities – 20% to 46% higher.
Some Los Angeles City Council members say DWP’s rate increases are costing citizens too much and wouldn’t have to if the DWP salaries were lower. They point to the salary study and say they will not support more rate hikes.
The report from PA Consulting, according to the LA Times, says “workers at DWP contact centers made an average of 20% more than their counterparts at 13 comparable utilities.” The Times story says the average top salary for a groundman /utility worker at DWP was 41% higher than salaries for that job at 15 other utilities. The story also reports that the average maximum salary for a DWP cable splicer was 43% higher than other utilities. Other jobs ranged from 28% to 46% higher than other utilities.
The DWP workers’ union dismissed the salary report as inaccurate. In the LA Times story, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa did not comment on the salary report.
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I highly question the legitimacy of the salary report. Which other utility company did the compare to? I doubt Edison and other comparable sized utility companies would freely provide such info. Smaller utility companies aren’t fair comparisons because the work responsibilities are entirely different. Just as nobody would expect an architect of a house to make the same as an architect of the new World Trade Center. I also noticed that nobody bothered to mention that DWP rates are cheaper than Edison’s. I wonder why that is?
Those jobs no one wanted when economy was good now everyone is crying
Badfinger told me that DWP Workers got’2 eat too, they got’s to feed their families also 🙂
Get a wood stove or fireplace insert and cut and haul your own wood, that is still pretty much cheap.
Not only does my husband’s salary as a DWP worker -combined with my salary- allow us the privilege of living in the Owens Valley where everything seems overly expensive, we spend almost our entire paycheck locally.
Well good for you Bishopp882, we cant afford to heat our house in the winter with both mine and my spouses combined incomes.
Hey good for you, work hard, educate yourself, succeed. Take your own inventory and make yourself better. I’m assuming you have Internet, which is not necessary if it comes down to heating your house. Small savings here and there adds up quickly.
Bishop882- I wish I worked for DWP also. But that doesn’t mean they have the right to every drop of water in the valley.
Very true, I absolutely agree with you, but that wasn’t what the article was about. As for the heating, we can’t afford to heat with propane either. Wood stove and sweaters fit our budget.
I saw the Times said today L.A. politicians approved a 11% price increase. Anyone surprised?
Maybe if they raised it 100%, L.A. would use less water. Maybe…
Ken- I have DWP for power and it cost enough. My guess is my bill will be going up also. Anybody know for sure??
Electricity is expensive no matter who you buy it from. When California deregulated electricity in the late ’90s, everybody saw massive increases in their electric bill.
People don’t like government regulations — deregulation of electricity is a great example of how “free markets” work. Free means free to charge a kidney for a handful of beans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis
http://dbacon.igc.org/PJust/02ElecDereg.htm
The salaries of employees have much less effect on prices than the greed of the marketplace.
Does this really matter with regard to the issues in inyo and mono?