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LADWP lays out $9.12 billion preliminary 2025–26 budget, signals investments in poles, transformers and renewable projects
Summary
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power presented a preliminary $9.12 billion budget and metrics for reliability and infrastructure work—including plans to replace about 4,000 poles and more than 1,300 transformers next year—and discussed MOUs and rate-timing questions raised by councilmembers.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power presented a preliminary $9.12 billion budget for fiscal 2025–26 and told the Budget & Finance Committee that the plan centers on reliability, renewables and infrastructure.
Chief engineer Jennis Quinones and budget staff outlined capital and operating investments across electricity and water: the preliminary package includes hundreds of millions for transmission and generation upgrades, infrastructure replacement and energy‑storage and renewable projects. Quinones said LADWP plans to replace roughly 4,000 distribution poles and about 1,340 transformers next year and is investing in projects such as a Victorville transmission upgrade that will add renewable integration capacity.
The department reported $3.1 billion in total compensation in the proposed budget (regular pay, overtime and benefits) and cited a proposed transfer to the city of about $227.9 million. LADWP staff said targets for reliability include an average of fewer than one outage per customer per year and an average interruption duration below about 115 minutes.
Committee members pressed LADWP on memoranda and MOUs: councilmembers asked for written detail about two MOUs with LADWP and other departments, how an existing MOU (about $40 million referenced in the hearing) is being used for pavement and related work, and whether the utility anticipates near-term requests for rate adjustments. LADWP staff said the near-term plan is to bring water rates first and then address electric-rate structure later; they also said any revenue timing tied to ballot measures or rate changes may require tax-roll scheduling and public processes.
Members raised resilience risks including wildfire litigation exposure, and LADWP said it is engaged in state and federal discussions about cost and funding pathways for utilities facing wildfire and resiliency costs. The department asked the committee for time to return with additional memos and said it will present a final budget to its board and return to the council later this spring as required by the municipal code.
