Lower utility rates sought

CITY HALL — Amid a steady drone of criticism from political activists over the city’s utility rates, officials Tuesday touted a new five-year strategic plan at Glendale Water & Power to reduce electric and water charges.

And in a growing show of frustration over what they said was an inaccurate depiction of utility rates on the City Council election campaign circuit, city officials unveiled a five-city survey that showed Glendale at the bottom of the heap when rates for water, electric, refuse collection and sewer maintenance were combined.

In the survey, Los Angeles ranked as the most expensive, with combined monthly charges to single-family homes of $220.70, followed by Pasadena at $176.58, on down to Glendale, which was the lowest at $173.86.

The main source of scorn among City Hall activists, and some council candidates, is Glendale’s relatively high electric rates, which rank anywhere among the top three cities in Southern California, depending on the billing formula.

City Manager Jim Starbird told the City Council on Tuesday that the attacks on Glendale Water & Power were the result of a select few critics focusing on the negative aspects of the utility’s rate structure at the expense of “the whole picture.”

Still, he joined Glenn Steiger, general manager of Glendale Water & Power, in acknowledging that electric rates could be lower.

“We will find ways to make that happen,” Starbird said.

To do that, Steiger said, the utility would work to renegotiate “over-market” natural gas contracts with Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Scholl Canyon Landfill.

Cutting the rates of those two contracts alone could contribute to an electric rate reduction of between 10% and 12%, Steiger said.

“That’s material. That has meaning,” he said.

Clamping down on illegal drains to the power grid among residents while reducing the number of outside contracts would help Glendale Water & Power meet its goal of reducing electric rates nearly 20% by 2014, he added.

It was just one of two dozen goals established under the city-owned utility’s new five-year strategic plan, which, in addition to reduced rates, set benchmarks for more renewable energy, greater energy and water conservation, increased legislative lobbying and better community outreach.