Rising Oil Bill Prompts Bradley to Order Agencies to Save Fuel : Conservation: Price increases spurred by the Mideast crisis could add $3 million to city costs over next two months.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley ordered all city departments Friday to begin conserving fuel to offset increasing oil prices that could force the city to pay up to $3 million more for gasoline over the next two months.

With the city already facing serious budgetary constraints and oil prices rising steadily because of the uncertain situation in the Persian Gulf, Bradley convened a meeting of his top managers to discuss fuel conservation efforts.

As of Friday, the city was paying an average price of $1.08 per gallon of gasoline and diesel, up 30 cents from the average price of 78 cents per gallon the city paid at this time last year.

If prices continue to rise sharply and increase, for example, by 20 cents per gallon, the city could wind up paying $3 million more for fuel by October, said Arnie Levine of the General Services Department, which is charged with buying fuel for most of the city’s vehicles.

“It’s up to us to be players in this scenario and try to anticipate what our needs are and how we can cut back on our demand,” Bradley told the city’s Fuel Allocation Committee, which meets only at the mayor’s behest in times of serious oil crises. Its last meeting was in 1979.

Directives have been sent to all city departments, requesting fuel conservation where possible but not at the expense of disrupting city services.

Even at the police department, officers driving any of the department’s 892 police cars have been reminded to save gas by turning off engines when writing tickets and performing other duties, Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker said.

Also, the mayor has asked all city employees to save fuel by riding public transportation to and from work. As an extra incentive, the city plans to pay employees, starting Sept. 1, a $15 monthly subsidy if they ride a bus or car pool to their offices.

“Each department is expected to reduce their consumption and each employee is asked to join with us and shift to ride sharing or public transit,” Bradley said.

Since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the resulting rise in gas prices, about 400 city employees have inquired about car pooling, compared to 150 in June and July, said Jack Driscoll of the Personnel Department, which coordinates the city’s ride-sharing program.

Dan Waters, general manager of the Department of Water and Power, said the city is “in fairly good shape” regarding fuel-generated power. Not only has the DWP stockpiled about six months’ worth of oil, but most power throughout the city will be generated by natural gas for the next two months.