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DWP, Sanitation outline billing pause for destroyed properties; meters to be cleaned before readings resume
Summary
DWP said it has removed destroyed Palisades accounts from billing and will not bill for water use after the January fires until meters are safely read and environmental cleanup of meter boxes is complete; electric billing will resume with payment-plan options and sanitation revenue may be partially covered by insurance.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Bureau of Sanitation told the committee they have paused billing for properties destroyed in the January wildfires and detailed the steps to resume safe meter reading and billing.
LADWP Chief Customer Officer Joe Romalo said the utility identified roughly 8,474 affected customer accounts and about 9,300 meters associated with destroyed or damaged properties. The department removed fully destroyed properties from billing and will not send bills for water consumption after the last pre‑fire meter read. DWP said it will not charge for water use from the Jan. 7 incident date forward until it can safely read and verify meters; the utility is scheduling environmental remediation of meter boxes before staff or contractors enter them.
Romalo said commercial meter readings are targeted to resume in late July and residential readings in late August, subject to final remediation and safety checks. The electric meters remained readable and customers will be billed for electric use since the last billing; however, DWP said it will offer extended payment arrangements and will not pursue collections for affected accounts immediately. The utility also plans to clear or “wipe out” water-use charges in the billing system for the affected accounts so customers do not receive retroactive unexpected charges.
On solar credits, DWP said customers who rebuild on-site can retain banked solar credits, but legal restrictions prevent transferring those credits to properties outside the affected area; in cases where credits cannot be preserved, DWP said they would be converted to cash under existing rules.
The Bureau of Sanitation confirmed its sewer‑service charges, bulky‑item and solid‑waste fees are billed through DWP; sanitation staff said they will coordinate billing treatment for households that have lost structures. The bureau’s CFO said the city’s insurance (business interruption coverage) may reimburse some lost solid‑waste revenue but not sewer-service charge revenue.
Ending: DWP and Sanitation said they will notify customers before any new bills are issued, provide flexibility for payment, and begin environmental cleanup of meter boxes with appropriate protective measures. The committee requested continued public outreach to ensure displaced residents know how to stop service and to avoid surprises when billing resumes.
