Los Angeles Officials Propose Rate Increase For Heaviest Water Users

In an effort to promote water conservation during California's drought, the city of Los Angeles has proposed a rate increase for the use of water and power, putting the most responsibility on the biggest residential water users. 

Customers who use approximately 20,000 gallons of water per month — an estimated 10 percent of customers — would see an increase in their water and power bills of 34 percent by 2021.

According to LA's Department of Water and Power, those users would see a monthly increase of $17.64 ($10.33 for water and $7.31 for power) for the next five years.

Aside from the critical task of conserving water, the department said that it also needs to increase water revenue by $230 million over the next five years in order to repair old infrastructure and comply with federal quality regulations.

Power revenue, which needs to increase to $4.4. billion over the next five years, will be used to comply with regulations on greenhouse gas reduction and the development of renewable energy resources.

If approved, the proposal would go into effect by early 2016. Meanwhile, earlier this week, the actor Tom Selleck was accused by officials of illegally siphoning water from a public hydrant, for use on his ranch property.