The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the nation’s largest municipal utility, with a 7880 megawatt (MW) electric capacity and an average of 438 million gallons of water per day to Los Angeles residents and businesses.
On April 12, 2018 about 18,000 customers were without power in 34 neighborhoods, including Fairfax, Los Feliz, Exposition Park, Brentwood and Hyde Park, as powerful winds caused outages and downed trees. The San Gabriel Valley, which doesn’t usually see a lot of wind, also saw strong gusts between 40 to 50 miles per hour. UCLA logged among the highest wind speeds in the region, with gusts of 52 mph. The winds travelled down to Los Angeles International Airport, which saw 40 mph gusts. There were many downed trees, which fell on electrical wires.
On July 8, 2018 a heat storm caused power outages affecting 26,500 customers.
On July 31, 2018 a Mylar balloon came into contact with overhead power equipment and caused a 2 second outage, delaying the game by 20 minutes while stadium field lighting and other equipment was reset. Metallic balloons cause a threat to power lines and their usage should be restricted.
Customers are encouraged to conserve energy during our heatwave. Call 1 800 342 5397 to report a power outage.
Starting in the summer of 2018 the LADWP will be constructing a new trunk line that connects the LADWP distribution system to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) water supply. This new trunk line will increase reliability of LADWP’s water distribution system to the West LA Area. The project includes construction of a new regulator station on Bentley Avenue, South of Venice, to control and regulate water pressure coming from the MWD system and a pressure relief station located on Bentley Avenue, North of Venice Boulevard. The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2020. For more information contact Project Manager Annette Flores at 213 367 0827, Associate Project Manager Mary Olmos at 213 367 4475 or Community Affairs Deborah Hong at 213 367 5204.
Robin Greenberg
Public Policy Chair