Rampant overbilling at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) have proven that the agency has a tin ear when it comes to its customers.
Take the elderly Soviet emigres who were billed $50,000 for water use at their condo and told they had a leaky toilet, then were harassed to pay the bill.
Friday's court skirmish showed that DWP lawyers are no more sensitive to ratepayers than DWP's billing agents.
LA Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle refused to approve the proposed DWP overcharge settlement that had been touted as answer to ratepayer gripes. He told the city's utility that it needed to improve the settlement and deal with the concerns of the ratepayer objectors.
Stinging legal objections to the settlement filed by plaintiffs in 3 out of 4 ratepayer class actions against DWP for massive overbilling cast questions about whether the settlement is real, and why a Chicago attorney, who appeared to be handpicked by DWP to settle claims, is being paid $13 million for his 87 days of work. The legal papers claimed that the settlement was riddled with problems and wrongly allowed DWP to solely determine who has been overcharged and how much they get back, when DWP cannot be trusted because it got it wrong in the first place.
DWP now has to work it out with the ratepayers before going back to the judge. Will it do the right thing and build more accountability and transparency into its claims process?
DWP may not want a third party determining what it did wrong and who it owes how much, but Angelenos' patience is running out with DWP's arrogance and false promises.
If DWP doesn't do better, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Attorney Mike Feuer should step in on behalf of ratepayers. Angelenos deserve an objective process to get their money back and real oversight of its renegade utility. And they shouldn't have to cough up money for more inflated bills: $13 million to a DWP-friendly lawyer who appears to have settled the case on the cheap for some quick dough.