Why you should want to pay more for L.A.'s water and electricity

Want to sit down and talk with the L.A. Department of Water and Power about their proposed rate changes?

You should, because it will determine how green the city's water and power services will be. Under the proposal, combined water and power rates would increase 2.4% to 5.4% every year for five years. Residential customers would see an average increase of about 3.4% or $4.75 each month that would apply to each year for five years.

The Sierra Club likes the proposal's:

• four-tier rate structure that charges more for those who use the most water; and
• increase in using renewable energy rather than dirty coal to power L.A.

However, the plan doesn't go far enough. (Find details at the agency's Water & Power Rate Request website.)

Here's what the Los Angeles Times said in an op-ed:

"A cost-of-service-based tiered rate structure will send a strong and legally defensible signal to water wasters during California's worse drought in more than a century. The total amount raised, though, is not enough. If Mayor Eric Garcetti wants to realize his ambitious, big-picture water management agenda, we must all pay more."

Here are upcoming meetings with the L.A. Department of Water and Power that are open to the public. You can learn more and ask the agency to increase the amount of renewable energy we need to power L.A.