Electricity

CITY HALL ? More than 100 residents held signs and marched around City Hall and the Glendale Water & Power building Sunday in protest of utility costs that they argued are too high. Some complained that their bimonthly bills had jumped more than $100 from last year?s totals and others claimed that high salaries for Glendale workers had influenced fees from the city?s utility. Speakers at the politically charged rally, which was attended by a handful of City Council hopefuls, called for changes in leadership positions because of rates they said were too expensive.

CITY HALL — Residents could see lower rates under Glendale Water & Power efforts to crack down on service theft, which drains an estimated $11 million a year from the utility’s revenues, translating into higher rates for consumers. The City Council on Tuesday approved ordinance amendments that will strengthen the utility’s ability to find and penalize electricity and water service theft. City Councilman Ara Najarian said Wednesday that the crackdown was imperative, especially in light of the city’s budget issues.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Authorities are investigating the theft of $1,700-worth of utilities at a uninhabitable home where police say they have arrested several people for methamphetamine use and burglary. The home on the 500 block of Solway Street has also been the subject of numerous code enforcement and police calls in the past two months. “It’s kind of gotten labeled as the party meth house,” city code enforcement Inspector Che Hill said. Officials discovered that the home’s occupant, Deok Lee, was allegedly stealing electricity from the city, so it was yellow tagged and deemed uninhabitable, Hill said.

CITY HALL — Residents could see lower rates under Glendale Water & Power’s efforts to crack down on service theft, which drains an estimated $11 million a year from the utility’s revenues, translating into higher rates for consumers. The City Council on Tuesday approved ordinance amendments that will strengthen the utility’s ability to find and penalize electricity and water service theft. City Councilman Ara Najarian said Wednesday that the crackdown was imperative, especially in light of the city’s budget issues.

Alex Coolman GLENDALE -- The city's sale of surplus electricity to the power-scarce state is showing up in Glendale's budget for the upcoming year, with revenues and expenditures on power jumping dramatically. Overall, the city's enterprise fund, which reflects the power transactions, is 31.8% bigger for the upcoming year than it was in the 2000-2001 budget. The increase, according to the staff-prepared budget overview, is "attributable to electricity sales on the wholesale market reflected in the Electric Fund."

I would like to commend the crew who restored my power on Dec. 2. My home lost power due to the horrible winds that roared through Southern California last week. A large tree limb broke and tore out the lines from the utility pole behind my home. I am an elderly woman, and my daughter came down from the Antelope Valley to help me in my time of need (thank goodness my phone still worked). After my first call to the Glendale Water & Power emergency call center, they sent out an inspector.

CITY HALL — The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that Glendale and Burbank will each receive $20 million to help fund the installation of smart meters that track real-time water and electricity usage. Burbank and Glendale were the only cities in Los Angeles County to receive a share of the $3.4 billion in stimulus funding that President Obama on Tuesday said would support similar smart grid and other energy efficiency programs nationwide. The federal windfall would make up a large portion of the estimated $28-million cost of the electric component of Glendale Water & Power’s smart grid plan, which is estimated to come in at about $35 million for the system development and meter installation, officials said.

In his letter of Dec. 4, Mr. McCready pleaded for the city of Glendale to enact rent control, on the basis that rents are being increased. That must mean that there is a high demand for rented places, and thus the price they fetch reflects this. Which in turn means that the local economy must be good, attracting people to Glendale, or this would not be happening. So is the City Council to decide what the fair economic price is for anybody's rent?

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Midnight Thursday marked the first of 13 late night construction sessions that Pelanconi neighborhood residents will have to endure in upcoming months as crews work to complete the largest public works project in Glendale history — the $44 million Fairmont Avenue “flyover” bridge. The night construction, which will span 13 weeknights from midnight to 7 a.m. through February, has been met with contention and anger from nearby residents who say they shouldn’t have to put up with the work noise during sleeping hours.