The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers are about to get some relief on their unpaid bills this weekend. Credits from its new massive debt relief program go out Saturday.
"Our goal is to help those in need," said Anselmo Collins, a senior assistant general manager for the DWP's water system.
Collins recently spoke to "Inside the Issues" host Alex Cohen about the launch.
He said the LADWP found about $300 million in unpaid bills from its customers. In November, the department announced new aid from the state to help pay back bills.
The money comes from pandemic relief funds specifically for municipal utilities.
The money will be applied to accounts that had an unpaid balance between March 4, 2020, and June 15, 2021. Around 250,000 customers will be impacted.
"Certainly when it comes to the pandemic, it's impacted certain parts of the community a lot more than others," Collins told Cohen.
What's different about this program is customers don't need to apply. They will automatically see the credit in their accounts starting Sunday.
Collins told Cohen an application process would complicate things.
"It is very difficult to get proof from each customer as to their exact needs, so what we're doing is casting as wide of a need as possible for all those individuals who have been incurring that debt," Collins said.
So what about the outstanding amounts beyond June 15, 2021?
Collins said LADWP is also receiving additional funding from the state to help struggling customers who were hit with other economic hardships.
"It's a great program because it will hopefully allow most people who have unpaid bills, impacted through COVID, to either have the bill completely wiped out or significantly reduced," Collins said.
In addition to its massive debt relief program, Collins told Cohen LADWP has another massive project in the works.
"Operation Next" is a new water supply initiative that the LADWP is developing in partnership with Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment.
The project plans to recycle wastewater for beneficial reuse to help LA achieve long-term sustainability goals.
"All that water that typically gets treated on release into the ocean, we're going to recycle it, 100% of it," Collins told Cohen.
The treated water will be used for two things: recharging local groundwater basins and drinking water.
Collins told Cohen it will take some time and work to get the community fully onboard with drinking treated wastewater.
"The way to ensure that we get complete buy in, is by having community members be well educated, be well informed, and have experts that can talk to the quality of water that is being served," Collins said.
The project is still in its early planning stages and is expected to be completed by 2058.
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