SoCal Connected

A City Councilman's View of the DWP

2010-03-19T01:15:12Z

The Price of Power, about the Los Angeles Dept of Water and Power, is perhaps the most intense story I've worked on in my 22 years at KCET. Delving into the DWP is like entering a maze of numbers. Layer onto that the emotions sparked by the City budget crisis, layoffs for 1000's of workers, raises for the DWP union and rate hikes for customers.

I thought you'd like to see how one City Council person defended his vote in favor of the DWP raise in December. Here's an excerpt from my interview with Bill Rosendahl. His reasons were very much like those of his colleagues.

You might also be interested in a short interview I did with Brian D'Arcy, head of the powerful union that represents most of the workers at the DWP.

Big Man At the DWP

2010-03-18T23:47:47Z

Brian D'Arcy is the business manager for IBEW Local 18. That's the union that represents most workers at the city-owned Dept of Water and Power. Brian D'Arcy is also considered one of the most politically powerful labor leaders in the city, and his union's workers are among the best paid. In fact, last year they negotiated a new contract that calls for some $300 million in raises over the next five years.

Meanwhile other city workers, if they haven't been laid off, are being asked to take pay cuts and furlough days.

In an interview for our story, The Price of Power, I pressed D'Arcy on why his workers get paid more than other city workers. He pointed out that the DWP is a moneymaker for the city. Plus, he says the DWP has to pay salaries competitive with other utility companies. He also says, as you'll see here, that the jobs at DWP are different.

You might also be interested to find out what one City Council member has to say about the DWP. Take a look at an excerpt from my interview with Bill Rosendahl

Lower My Electric Bill! (Or, How Ben Franklin Could Save You A Buck)

2010-03-18T23:06:35Z

No, this is not the first generation of Americans to wrestle with energy conservation. Nor the second, nor even the fifth.

Ben Franklin himself railed against energy hogs more than 200 years ago, back when workaholics literally burned the candle at both ends to see at night.

During a prolonged stay in France, Franklin wrote a sarcastic letter to the Journal of Paris in which he professed a most remarkable discovery—that the sun actually rises at 6 o'clock (Parisians, he noted, rarely woke before noon). By his quill-on-the-envelope calculation, Parisians spent as much as 96 million livres collectively to burn candles for seven hours each night during the summer months.

"An immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles," Franklin wrote.

The simplest solution to cut back on the high cost of burning so many candles in the dark of night, he wrote, was to wake up and do business by the light of the sun. He proposed (at least partly in jest) a tax on window shutters, candle rationing and a citywide wake-up call comprising church bells and cannon fire.

Though lighting still represents one of the biggest power draws in the average household, a slew of other appliances now suck the juice at all hours of the day. Forget candles. Now you consume kilowatt-hour upon kilowatt-hour of electricity.

But while electricity consumers haven't faced anything as draconian as Franklin's tongue-in-cheek candle-saving measures, Southern Californians have had their share of forced rationing. Brownouts, rolling blackouts, tiered electricity rates—and now a surcharge rate hike in Los Angeles—have all been used to encourage the power guzzler to restrain himself.

Then again, you really don't have to be all that greedy to run up your bill. So how much energy use is a lot, and what can you do to keep those charges under control?

The average household in the United States uses about 950 kilowatt-hours (KWh) of electricity per month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In California, likely because of the milder climate, energy use is much lower, coming in at less than 600 kWh per month per household.

To put the numbers into perspective, a single 100-watt light bulb burns one-tenth of a kWh in one hour. Central air conditioning, on the other hand, downs about 1.3 kWh every 60 minutes. Run that air conditioner even five hours a day and by the end of the month you've already consumed nearly 200 kWh of electricity.

In Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power, one of the nation's largest public-owned utilities, charges a higher rate as you use more electricity. It's a tiered structure that starts at only 7 cents per kWh and moves up as you pass certain benchmarks to 8.5 cents and 12 cents, respectively.

The point at which you move up to the next tier depends on where you live. LADWP has marked off two zones based on the area's microclimates. For customers in coastal and cooler regions, tier one ends after only 350 kilowatt hours of use per month. Customers living in the valley, which is much hotter, get a slight break. For them, tier two doesn't start until they've used more than 500 kilowatt hours.

If you're an Angeleno trying to lower your bill, you probably want to stay within the first and second tiers. Trouble is, it can be very difficult for a family to meet that first limit. In fact, it's almost a given that at least part of your electricity use will be billed at the tier-two rate each month.

Still, however you look at it, lowering your energy use will save you money in the end, and the best place to start is with that air conditioner. Air conditioning, lighting and heating can account for a third of your electricity use each month. Be aware, too, that your water heater might be electric. Yes, that's right, a good chunk of your electric bill could be going to those long, hot showers. (Gas water heaters are far easier on the pocket book, but it's good to remember that LADWP has a tiered rate structure for water use, too.)

Appliances make up two-thirds of your energy use, on average. Topping the list of thirsty appliances is the all-important refrigerator. While you can't very well cut back on refrigeration (aside from keeping the door closed while you figure out what you need!), you can save on other appliances.

One way to figure out what's boosting your bill is to look at the energy rating sticker that comes affixed to just about every electrical appliance you can name. It should list the wattage. Divide the number of watts by 1000 to get the number of kilowatt-hours the appliance uses in one hour. If the sticker only lists amps, you can still get a very rough estimate of kilowatt-hours. Just multiply the amps by 120 (the normal voltage required for appliances to work in the U.S.), and then divide that number by 1000.

If you really want to audit your energy use, you can buy something called a multimeter and hook it up to a specific appliance like, say, your computer or TV. The multimeter will display exactly how much energy has been used by the appliance in real time.

Sound a bit obsessive? It's not far-fetched to say we all may soon be monitoring our energy use as closely as our finances. You can already get real-time updates on your energy use by reading your electric meter. Just compare the number on the meter to the one on your previous bill. With the advent of smart meters, this process should get much easier. Google has even partnered with some utilities around the country to download the data directly from your smart meter so you can view it in your web browser's home page, complete with graphs and charts.

At the end of the day, however, even with all that data at your fingertips, you're still faced with the same tough choices. Do you shut off the air conditioner and sweat it out? Dry your clothes outdoors on a line? Work in the dark? Go to bed early? The point is, if you want to lower your bill, you have to change some habits. And, as Franklin urged his Parisian comrades, you just might want to think twice the next time you consider "burning the midnight oil."

Villatoro: My DWP Bill

2010-03-18T21:49:14Z

Writer Marcos Villatoro doesn't understand his volatile DWP bill. One time it's up, next time it's down. Then it goes up again, for a period while his family was away on an extended vacation. Marcos says maybe it's time to get serious about putting up some solar panels.

LA City Council: STILL Livin' Large

2010-03-18T19:23:47Z

The feature above, on salaries for Los Angeles City Council members, was a big hit when we posted it last month. Council members make a base salary of just under $179,000, plus lots of perks. Meanwhile, the city budget is more than $200 million in the red, and employees are being fired. Those that remain are being asked to take pay cuts and/or unpaid leave days.

This week KABC radio reporter Michael Linder surveyed members, and found at least seven who don't appear willing to go along with everyone else in sharing the pain.

Westside Council member Bill Rosendahl told Linder, “I’ll take the cut if the rest do. I’m not going to take it first. Why should I do that?"

And Bernard Parks, who gets an amazing $22,000 city pension check each month for his service with the LAPD, gave Linder this tart no-comment: “I never speak about my personal salary. It’s a public record and that’s all I can say to you.”

It should be noted that a number of members, and the Mayor, have taken voluntary cuts. Here's the rundown, again, according to Michael Linder:

Mayor Villaraigosa: 16% cut in his $223,000 salary
Eric Garcetti: 4.16% in July. Raised to 10% in mid-January.
Ed Reyes: 10% pay cut in mid-February
Paul Koretz: 10% cut since August.
Dennis Zine: 5% cut January 1.
Tom LaBonge: 5% cut January 1
Jose Huizar: 10% cut January 30
Jan Perry: 5% cut as of this montn.
Janice Hahn: 4.16% cut July 1.

High-Speed Rail: Track to the Future?

2010-03-17T22:28:19Z

Here's the dream: A sleek, state-of-the-art train that whisks you from LA to San Francisco in less than three hours, and helps save the planet while doing so.

Here's the reality. Such a train will cost at least $40 billion, and some experts think the final price could be double that.

Is a high-speed railroad the answer to our inter-city transportation problems? And if so, how will we ever pay for it?

A Stop in Visalia?
It's not really high-speed rail if the train makes a lot of stops. But towns up and down the proposed rail route are lobbying hard to make sure they get a fast train station.

PBS's Blueprint America visited Visalia, and created a portrait of the mayor there, who's doing what he can to bring high-speed rail to a halt in his city.

DWP: The Price of Power

2010-03-17T22:12:45Z

Why are DWP workers getting raises, when other Los Angeles city agencies are laying off employees and slashing wages?

DWP employees secured a five-year wage package worth $300 million, just as the city was heading into an historic budget deficit. Plus, as Angelenos struggle to pay their bills, the mayor wants to add a big surcharge on electric rates.

Find out why power and politics have created a DWP that seems insulated from economic reality.

DWP, High-Speed Rail, Marcos Villatoro

2010-03-17T21:55:25Z

DWP: The Price Of Power - The City of Los Angeles has a $200 million-plus budget deficit. Some workers are losing their jobs. Others are taking pay cuts and unpaid days off.

But there's one city agency where layoffs and furloughs don't exist. It's the city-owned Dept of Water and Power.

Last year DWP workers won pay raises worth some $300 million over the next five years. Meanwhile, the Mayor wants to add a surcharge to electric bills to pay for green energy projects.

SoCal Connected's Val Zavala takes a look at the DWP, where electric power meets political power with sometimes shocking results. Comment

High-Speed Rail: Track To The Future? - Who doesn't love a train? Especially one that could get you from LA to San Francisco less than three hours. But at what price?

Proponents of high-speed rail say the time is right to invest. But can we afford the billions and billions of dollars required to make the dream of high-speed rail come true? SoCal's Saul Gonzalez looks at the promise and perils of a California's proposed fast train. Comment

Commentary - Writer Marcos Villatoro shares some thoughts about his electric bill. Comment

Starving in the Sunshine

2010-03-17T18:52:46Z

California leads the nation in agricultural production. Yet, for many in the Golden State, just finding a meal for themselves or their family can be a challenge. And as the economy has gone lean, the legions of hungry are growing. According to a UCLA survey, 11 million people in the state, or one out of every four Californians, live in "food insecure" families.

A group of 13 graduate students from the USC Annenberg School for Journalism & Communication has launched a web site that presents an exhaustive investigation into hunger in California. Hunger in the Golden State depicts a sobering reality.

Nearly one of every eight Californians has sought food assistance in the past year. The fraying food safety net has left food banks and social service agencies overwhelmed. The student reporters found hunger throughout the state - even in some of California's most affluent areas.

In addition to their web site, the USC student's reporting will also be featured in The Los Angeles Times and on public radio stations throughout the state. Led by veteran journalists Sandy Tolan and Marcia Parker, the project is also being supported by The Center for Investigative Reporting.

Several of the students working on Hunger in The Golden State are also participating in a collaboration with SoCal Connected, Dream Interrupted. This web-based project looks at the collapse of the California dream, and at ways some innovators are trying to revive it.

We encourage you to visit both these sites, not only for their excellent content, but as examples of the kind of important, high-quality work young journalists are producing in Southern California.

Great Failures in Transportation

2010-03-17T17:27:06Z

Southern California has long been known for sunshine, sandy beaches and...traffic. After World War II, when the population exploded, engineers and urban planners came up with a variety of solutions. One plan would have created a grid of freeways, one every four miles. Another involved using the open skies. And what happened to all those promised monorails?

Take a brief, tongue-in-cheek look at some of the solutions that didn't quite pan out.

Some Interesting Resources

Southern California Freeway Development
An fascinating collection of maps, dating to the late 1940's, showing plans for developing an ambitious network of expressways across the basin.

100 Years of Flying Cars
This site features scores of amusing designs, from the earliest days of the automobile to the present time. Plus, here's a great newsreel from the 1950's about the Aero Flying Car, whose fans included a big TV star of the day, Bob Cummings.

An LA Transit Timeline
A brief history of transportation in Southern California, from PBS's Blueprint America project.

California High Speed Rail Interactive Map
California High Speed Rail Authority's map shows the proposed route of the proposed high-speed rail system for the state. Featuring "visualizations" of the trains as they travel across the landscape.

Power Grab?

2010-03-16T17:52:24Z

LA City employees are facing layoffs, furloughs and pay-cuts. But at the city-owned Dept of Water and Power, workers are getting raises. Meanwhile, the mayor wants to add a big surcharge to your power bill. What's up at the DWP?

Plus, high-speed rail. Getting from here to San Francisco in a couple of hours sounds great. But is it worth 50, 60 or maybe even 80 billion dollars?

Tune in this week, for SoCal Connected.

Health Care: In Critical Condition (R)

2010-03-12T02:03:47Z

Young & Uninsured - Almost 40% of the nation's uninsured are between the ages of 18-35. These young Americans can't get health insurance, can't afford it, or just don't think it's worth the cost. Correspondent Lisa Ling reports on how that's endangering not just individuals, but the entire health care system. Comment

Cancer, Coping and Comedy - In times past, people were a lot more circumspect when it came to talking about disease. Most professionals think it's a health trend—we're far more open than we once were when it comes to illness. But laughing about having cancer? Correspondent Vince Gonzales says some serious giggles might be just what the doctor ordered. Comment

Fighting For Time: Update - Our earlier report, Fighting for Time, and a column by David Lazarus in the L.A. Times, explored the predicament of Bob Iritano, a man who knows he’s going to die but is battling for as much time as he can get with his wife and four kids. Here Lazarus reports on what's happened since. Comment

Why You Should Never Drop Your Health Insurance (And How To Get It Back If You Do)

2010-03-12T01:12:07Z

"Unchain Me From Illness" by Ka Lee / Creative Commons Licensed

If you lost your health insurance recently, you should know the clock's ticking. Sixty-three days after the coverage period's end date, you will lose any special legal protections afforded you as a health insurance customer. If you want to keep those protections, you need to act, pronto.

This bit of advice, which you'll hear from most experts, is especially true if you have any pre-existing conditions. By law, private health insurers can deny you coverage or refuse to pay for any medical conditions you already have when you apply. But relatively recent laws prohibit insurance companies from blackballing you as long as you've had no "significant break" in coverage—that is, you haven't been without insurance for longer than 63 days.

If you're thinking you don't have any pre-existing conditions serious enough to warrant such an exclusion, then you're like me. And you may, like me, be wrong.

I waited more than two months after transitioning jobs to apply for a new plan and was subsequently denied coverage, not because I had any life-threatening disease, but because of a minor bout with mononucleosis years earlier. That's right, I had a case of mono. The insurance company I picked makes it a policy of digging back 10 years into your medical history in order to make its underwriting decision. (The observant reader will note that 10 years is the same amount of time it takes to get a bankruptcy expunged from your credit history, not to mention that bankruptcy is what often results from major medical expenses when you don't have coverage.)

So here's why you should never go without coverage, how you hold onto your health insurance even if you lose your job, and what you can do if you make the same numskull mistake I did.

They Will Find A Way
Any significant break in coverage and you have to start from scratch. You no longer have what is called "creditable coverage" to shield you against that pre-existing condition clause. And you might be surprised by the kinds of medical issues some companies will cite as grounds to deny coverage altogether.

If you used Accutane to treat acne within the past year, for instance, you will be declined automatically, according to the underwriting guidelines for Anthem Blue Cross. The same goes if you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis or have a pacemaker.

According to Aetna's underwriting guidelines, you're a no-go if you are younger than 22 and receive allergy shots. Nor will the company take on anyone with chronic bronchitis or anyone younger than 34 who takes medication for sciatica.

Kaiser Permanente may write you off if you suffer from kidney stones or if you have undergone infertility treatment. Or, if you have breast implants. Sorry.

Simply put, stay insured. If you don't have a break in coverage, you generally can't be declined. But how do you prevent that break if you lose your job, or make the leap into the scary world of self-employment?

Resources

Holding On
Buy an individual or family plan (you have other options, but more on that later). The answer sounds simple, but the legally prescribed steps you need to follow to keep your protection are fairly strict and can be a little confusing.

The first step is to extend your current or former plan through COBRA, an insurance option created with the 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. COBRA requires insurers to continue offering an employer or group health plan to an individual even after he or she no longer works for that company.

But there is a catch: you have to pay the full premium, which includes the portion your employer was picking up. It's probably not as much as you'll be paying for that surgery you end up needing while you're uninsured, but it's still expensive. (Some good news here. Many recently unemployed individuals may qualify for a government subsidy that, at least for a period of time, will subsidize 65% of your COBRA premium.)

And don't wait to sign up for COBRA! You have about 60 days from the time you end your employment before you lose your eligibility.

The next step is to wait, but keep paying those COBRA premiums. If you get hired by a new employer, you can latch onto its group plan (if your employer is benevolent and offers coverage.) Otherwise, when your COBRA eligibility runs out after 18 months, you'll have to buy an individual or family plan through a private insurance company. Either way, another law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, prevents insurers from hitting you with that pre-existing condition clause. But you must stay on COBRA for the full 18 months, and (here it is again) you have 63 days to transition from COBRA to a new plan through HIPAA, or you're out of luck.

What If You Blow It?
If you do make the same mistake I did, you'll be entering a sort of no-man's land where your history of paying for health insurance no longer counts. Insurance companies will not have to cover any pre-existing condition for up to a year if you're applying for an individual plan or six months for a group plan. But you still have a few options.

Certain trade organizations and unions offer group health insurance or medical discounts to their members. So if you belong to, say, the Service Employees International Union, or the American Bar Association, or the Screen Actors Guild, you may want to check out their options.

You may also become eligible for certain government-run health plans if you're first declined coverage based on a pre-existing condition. Californians who have exhausted all other options can apply for the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program. Or you may be able to sign up for Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid, even if you make more than the maximum income normally allowed participants of that program.

If you have a family with young children, you can try the Healthy Families Program, and pregnant women can try the Access for Infants and Mothers program.

If At First You Don't Succeed...
As for me, I did eventually get insurance. I applied for an individual plan at a different company, and this one only asked for five years of medical history, instead of 10. That difference, or more lenient underwriting guidelines for my particular situation, was enough to get me approved. The lesson here is that persistence and shopping around can pay off.

Meanwhile, the fairness of the current health care system is open to debate. But the fact is, you need to do everything you can to maintain your coverage. The punishment for 63 days of procrastination could be, well, six months to a year.

Cancer, Coping and Comedy

2010-03-11T20:59:00Z

In times past, people were a lot more circumspect when it came to talking about disease. Most professionals think it's a health trend - we're far more open than we once were when it comes to illness. But laughing about having cancer? Correspondent Vince Gonzales says some serious giggles might be just what the doctor ordered.

]]> Other Episode 203 Segments:

Young and Uninsured - While young people generally enjoy good health, some get sick with serious or life-threatening illnesses. Yet a huge number of young Americans either can't get health insurance, can't afford it, or just don't think it's worth the cost. Correspondent Lisa Ling reports on how that's endangering not just individuals, but the entire health care system.

A Personal Appeal For Reform - Two-thirds of all American bankruptcy cases involve medical bills. Grandma has Medicare, but her grand-children may be uninsured. And even if you have insurance, you often have to fight tooth and nail to get your provider to pay for your care. Commentator Patt Morrison recently had surgery, and now, more than ever, she's wondering why we all know the health care delivery system is deeply ill, yet we are so resistant to finding a cure.

Jovan's Chemo Day

2010-03-11T20:54:00Z

Jovan Rodriguez had no insurance and no savings when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He's one of the young people referred to by some as the Young Invincibles—those who fall in the 19-29 age bracket and make up the largest group of uninsured in the country—and he appears in our segment on the Young and Uninsured.

But Jovan didn't take the news passively. Instead, he eventually managed to secure coverage through Medi-Cal, which normally only applies to those under 21 or over 65.

And he created a video documentary of his treatment, hoping to leave some kind of record in case it didn't go so well. This video is a condensed version of video taken during his last day of chemotherapy, and it's not for the queasy.

Links
• Visit Jovan's MySpace page