MWD Board OKs Rate Hike of 23.8% for Agency Clients : Water: Residential customers in Los Angeles can expect their bills to rise about $2 a month, a DWP official says.

The Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors on Tuesday approved a 23.8% increase in water rates to boost sagging revenues it attributed to the drought.

Even with the increase, the district faces a shortfall of $120 million because it is selling less water as a result of the drought, said MWD spokesman Bob Muir.

“The district obviously expects to deliver less water but it still has fixed costs associated with maintaining facilities. These fixed costs require a certain amount of income,” Muir said.

The new rates, approved on a 21-20 vote, will take effect July 1.

The remaining deficit will be covered by the district’s Water Rate Stabilization Fund, spokesman Bob Gomperz said.

Only last week, the district board voted to reduce deliveries to its 27 member agencies by 50% in an effort to curb consumption and conserve dwindling water supplies.

The way the increase affects consumers will vary among the member agencies. Residential customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will see their bills go up about $2 a month, department spokeswoman Dorothy Jensen said.

The DWP won’t boost its rates, but it will include the district’s price increase in its regular billing adjustments based on fluctuations in the price of wholesale water, Jensen said.

The district’s member agencies serve about 15 million people between Los Angeles and the Mexican border. But the district is not the sole supplier for most members. Many cities also obtain water from wells, aquifers, ground water reserves and the Colorado River.

The DWP buys more than 60% of its water from the district, Jensen said.

The increase boosts the price of an acre-foot of treated water from $230 to $283. Untreated water will go up by $47 to $244 an acre-foot.

In a related development, Mayor Tom Bradley wrote a letter to district General Manager Carl Boronkay asking for detailed information on the water conservation methods of the member agencies.

“I make this request so that, together, we may evaluate our overall water conservation efforts, guaranteeing that as a region we have done everything we can to get through this shortage equally,” Bradley wrote.