City’s Public Utilities Chief Is So Plugged In He Retires at Full Power

Gordon W. Hoyt’s City Hall job is one of a kind, with a salary to match.

For 25 years, Hoyt has been general manager of the Public Utilities Department in Anaheim, the only city in Orange County to have its own electric company. And with an annual salary of $136,000 a year, Hoyt is the highest-paid employee on the city payroll.

Hoyt is scheduled to retire Dec. 30, and the city manager has recommended hiring him as a consultant at the rate of $150 an hour for a maximum of about 800 hours next year--which works out to $120,000.

That might seem like a lot of money, but City Council members say Anaheim is getting the better end of the deal.

“When you have somebody like this, you make special arrangements,” said Councilwoman Miriam Kaywood. “With Gordon, we are getting a bargain.”

Added Councilman William D. Ehrle, “To me, there’s nothing unusual about it. Gordon Hoyt has to be considered among the top people in the field. In order to get the best, you have to pay for the best.”

The council is expected to approve the consulting agreement with Hoyt in January.

City officials say Hoyt’s successful legal battles with Southern California Edison are the reason why Anaheim electric customers have been refunded $49 million since 1972 and why Anaheim electric rates are 18% cheaper than those in neighboring cities served by Edison.

Anaheim still has several huge court cases pending against Edison, including a 1978 antitrust lawsuit that could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages being paid to the city and four others that joined in the suit.

Hoyt, 64, has invaluable first-hand knowledge of this case and others, and will be called upon as the city’s negotiator and counselor in these matters, said Ray Merchant, the city’s utilities communications officer.

Although Hoyt said he is looking forward to being a full-time retiree, he recognizes that “I certainly am a real asset to Anaheim in providing management continuity through all of this litigation.”

Hoyt will also help guide the Public Utilities Department as the city conducts a search for his replacement.

When Hoyt first joined the city in 1964, Anaheim was buying all its electricity from Southern California Edison, Merchant said, and the Public Utilities Department’s annual budget was $13 million. The department now has a budget of about $300 million, and the city obtains its power from a variety of sources, including the Inter-Mountain Power Project in Utah, Edison and the San Onofre nuclear power plant.

The result is that Anaheim is more “energy independent,” Hoyt said, adding that he is particularly proud of the city’s participation in the construction of the Utah power plant. That project, which took about 14 years to complete, now provides about 55% of Anaheim’s electricity, Hoyt said.

The city’s relationship with Southern California Edison has been a rocky one, with Anaheim suing Edison over the cost of transporting electricity from these other sources as well as the cost of the power Edison provides, Merchant said.

Such aggressiveness has sent a message to Edison that Anaheim insists on being treated fairly, Merchant said. The result is that the Public Utilities Department is on solid financial ground, Hoyt said. “The future looks bright. I just feel I’m leaving a system that’s really in great shape, no matter how you look at it.”