Audit Alleges Waste and Mismanagement by DWP

Los Angeles Controller Laura Chick released an audit Thursday that found instances of mismanagement and waste in the Department of Water and Power’s Green Power and Public Benefits programs, especially in developing use of renewable power sources.

Chick called for City Council hearings on her conclusions, and cited these examples:

* Last August, the department dedicated its Lopez Canyon landfill micro-turbine project to use landfill gas to generate electric power. As yet, no electricity has actually been produced.

* The DWP spent about four years and more than $1 million to design an electric leaf blower, but it has not yet been produced.

* Only seven of 27 electric buses purchased by the department in 1999 and 2000 at a cost of $5.8 million are available for service, wasting $4.1 million of what was spent.

* The department spent $370,000 in 2001 to purchase energy-efficient refrigerators to distribute to low-income customers, but only 80% of them have been handed out.

David Wiggs, general manager of the department, appeared alongside Chick at the Silver Lake news conference.

He said the DWP has not been able to find a manufacturer that will produce the leaf blower, although it is still looking for one.

He said 200 refrigerators have been distributed and the others will be in the future.

Chick contends that the department has often plunged into the programs without a rational plan or long-term strategy.

Wiggs has said that experimentation, by its nature, does not guarantee perfect success.