City Council Extends Winter Water Rates : Utilities: Heavy users will temporarily pay 22% less than under two-tier summer system, which Valley residents protested last year.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers will not pay the higher summer water rates that sparked a flood of complaints from San Fernando Valley residents last year, the City Council decided Tuesday.

Instead, the council voted unanimously to extend winter water rates, which are 22% lower for heavy water users, until a citizens panel can draft a permanent and more equitable system.

The rate structure that was imposed last year to promote conservation imposed two tiers, a high rate for customers who use more than twice the median amount of water, and a lower rate for smaller users.

But in the Valley, where lots tend to be larger and summers tend to be hotter, residents deluged City Hall with complaints after they began to receive bimonthly summer bills ranging from $500 to $900.

Although the council agreed unanimously to impose the temporary lower rates while a more equitable permanent system is devised, they were bitterly divided over how that permanent system will work.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the northwest Valley, proposed that the city do away with the two-tier system and instead adopt a flat-rate structure that charges the same amount for each gallon, regardless of how much water is used.

“Everybody should pay the same rate, if they can afford it,” Bernson said. He said the two-tier system forces Valley residents to pay more than their fair share.

The proposal was defeated on a 10-4 vote, with a majority arguing that a flat rate system does not provide an incentive for water conservation. Voting in favor of the flat-rate system were Councilmen Bernson, Joel Wachs, Zev Yaroslavsky and John Ferraro, all of whom represent parts of the Valley.

For some council members, the debate turned on the question of whether heavy water users, particularly those in the Valley, should pay the same rate as residents who use little.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who represents the Hollywood area, said a flat-rate system would force those who use less water to subsidize those who use more.

“When we begin subsidizing the largest users who have shown in a drought that they are capable of conservation, we remove any incentives for them to conserve,” she said.

Bernson reacted angrily to suggestions that Valley water users would be subsidized by the rest of the city’s residents under a flat-rate system.

“First of all, let’s cut the B.S. about subsidizing the Valley,” Bernson said.

The water rate structure that was imposed in February, 1993, was the result of many public hearings and hours of study by the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Water Rates, a citizens panel created by former Mayor Tom Bradley.

DWP officials estimate that the city will lose $7 million in revenues by imposing the lower winter rates through the summer. But part of that loss will be offset by a $4-million surplus that DWP collected under the two-tier rate system, including the higher summer rates that ran from June through October.

Under the old summer rates, customers who used more than twice the median paid $2.98 per billing unit. A unit is 100 cubic feet or 748 gallons. Those who used less paid $1.80 per unit.

Under winter rates, which remain in effect indefinitely, those using more than twice the median pay $2.33 per billing unit. Those using less pay $1.80. The median customer in Los Angeles uses about 10,500 gallons every month during the summer.

Sandy Brown, co-chairwoman of the mayor’s water rates committee, said the panel is close to proposing a permanent rate system that will be based on a two-tier system, but will also take into consideration the size of a resident’s lot, the number of occupants in a home, the climate of a community and whether a house is built on a hillside.

“We want to be equitable and continue to encourage conservation,” she said.

The committee is expected to propose a permanent rate structure next month.