LADWP Powers Up For Hot Summer

NEWS RELEASE
June 20, 2007

LOS ANGELES — As the first day of summer approaches and with temperatures expected to soar through the weekend, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) officials today reported on significant steps that have been taken to strengthen the electric system and improve summer readiness since the record-breaking heat storm last July.

“We are much better prepared heading into this summer than we were last year. Our electric infrastructure has been thoroughly studied and we have replaced or upgraded all residential transformers that experienced any type of issue during the past year,” LADWP General Manager Ronald F. Deaton said.

In a presentation today to the City Council Energy and Environment Committee, Deaton described a series of immediate actions that were taken following the record-setting July 2006 Heat Storm, along with electric system repairs, upgrades and preparations made during the past year. In addition, he outlined a long-term Power Reliability Program that provides a blueprint for ensuring continued reliable energy service for future generations of Los Angeles residents.

Just as LADWP has readied for another hot summer, Deaton urged the public to partner with the City in reducing energy use to help prevent overloads and to save money on their electric bill.

“As temperatures rise and customer demand for power increases, we are asking residents to look at ways they can save energy,” Deaton said. “There are a lot of good reasons to conserve energy. Not only does it reduce demand on the power system, but it also saves money and helps protect the environment. Every dollar our customers save through energy conservation is a dollar worth of energy we don’t have to produce and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Marking the beginning of summer, the LADWP issued energy conservation tips and urged customers to take advantage of programs available through the department to help conserve energy (see tips and programs).

Among the short-term repairs and prevention measures since the heat storm, LADWP has replaced or upgraded 3,000 distribution transformers, and repaired over 360 temporary and open circuits. In addition, LADWP has reviewed the condition and load factor associated with every residential transformer that has had any type of problem during the past year. In many cases, additional or higher capacity transformers were installed to better handle overloads.

During last summer’s heat storm, the hot temperatures caused unprecedented energy use by residential customers, particularly during the evening hours. Electric equipment, such as distribution transformers, never had a chance to cool off. About 0.2% (300) of the 126,000 transformers failed and triggered outages. Although transformer failures caused a very small percentage of the outages, they had the most severe impact on customers because repairing or changing out transformers is very labor intensive work.

To be ready for this summer, LADWP has purchased 3,000 transformers and plans to keep at least 2,000 in stock (a year’s supply) at all times. After studying patterns of residential energy usage, LADWP also determined that the Department will purchase future transformers with new specifications to better handle overloads, to run cooler, and to last longer. The new transformers are built with a temperature gauge that can be read by inspectors on the ground to better monitor their condition and detect overheating earlier.

In addition, the Power System team is testing a new modeling tool that integrates customer energy use information with transformer-related problems.

To maintain and improve reliability long-term, LADWP will implement the Power Reliability Program through a two-pronged approach—rebuilding infrastructure and proactive maintenance—and will invest more than $1 billion in the program over the next 5 to 15 years. LADWP officials have proposed funding the program through a power reliability surcharge that would add $1.75 per month to their monthly bill.

Nearly 80,000 LADWP customers, about 5.7 percent of the City’s 1.4 million electric customers, lost power in the July 2006 Heat Storm. Of those, over 90% were restored within 24 hours, while 555 customers experienced outages lasting longer than 72 hours. The second hottest in national history, the heat storm set six new record peak loads within seven days including a new peak load of 6165 megawatts on July 24, 2006. The Department has an energy generation capacity of 7,400 megawatts.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal utility, provides reliable, low-cost water and power services to Los Angeles residents and businesses in an environmentally responsible manner. LADWP services about 1.4 million electric customers and 680,000 water customers in Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.ladwp.com.

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LADWP,

Joe Ramallo, (213) 367-1394,
joe.ramallo@ladwp.com