Bright Lights, Big City

In addition to providing free conservation tips on its energy-efficiency solutions hotline, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power at 111 N. Hope St. proudly promotes its very own water conservation garden. So why then, late at night, is the 15-story building as bright as the Disneyland Electric Light Parade? Is it demonstrating the P in DWP? Or is some ne’er-do-well employee forgetting night after night to flip the switch?

According to DWP spokeswoman Darlene Battle, keeping the lights on is “a design element to make the building look brilliant.” That it does. The lauded headquarters, designed by Albert C. Martin & Associates (the same firm behind City Hall and the Million Dollar Theatre) and dedicated in 1965, is subject of some of photographer Julius Shulman’s most haunting lunar-like landscapes, such as the one pictured here. But we’re talking about the DWP. There must be some practical reason to keeping the lights on, right? “During the winter, we need to leave some lights on because we don’t have a heating system per se,” Battle says. “We have heat pumps. The heat pumps collect heat and deliver it the next morning into the building.”

In addition, says Battle, “some lights are security or emergency lighting. And we have people working around the clock. Computer staff, maintenance and custodial.” So what’s the cost to keeping pretty? Try $360,000 to $380,000. That’s the DWP’s monthly electric bill. Which makes one wonder: Does the DWP bill itself?

“No,” Battle says. “It’s taken out of the operational costs but kept track of for budgeting.” At least it’s not wasting paper.