LADWP Workers Earn Huge Salaries Amid Soaring LA Utility Bills
Left 0%
Center 33%
Right 67%
0 left · 1 center · 2 right
What happened
California State Controller compensation records for 2025 show the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power paid its 13,623 employees about $2.3 billion in wages plus $350.3 million in employer retirement and health contributions. The five highest-paid workers — four distribution supervisors and an electric distribution mechanic — earned a combined $3.84 million, including nearly $2.1 million in overtime, and 114 employees earned more than $500,000 each. At a Board of Water and Power Commissioners meeting, residents including San Fernando Valley customer Micah Reed, who delivered a petition with more than 39,000 signatures, criticized opaque bills and overtime payouts and called for an independent audit. The board passed a resolution requesting a review of LADWP rates, structures, and how they are applied. LADWP said overtime is 5 percent of its $10.8 billion budget, is used to restore power during emergencies and staffing shortages, and that its rates remain lower than some neighboring utilities.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 3 articles
2 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 2 of 3
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Micah Reed, Cheyenne Gutierrez, Allan Marks, Raul Claros, Tim O'Connor and LADWP Board of Commissioners
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 1 of 3
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: compensation records
- Credits another outlet 0 of 3
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
- Unnamed sources 0 of 3
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 27, 23:30 UTC by New York Post, naming its source. First document in the first report, from New York Post (compensation records).
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
BLINDSPOT.
Only right-leaning outlets are covering this story
— the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning outlets have not covered this story. Right-leaning coverage presents LADWP overtime as the reason household bills have become crushing. The highest-paid staff collected $3.84 million, according to the New York Post, and each made more in overtime than in regular pay. Missing from that account is the independent ratepayer advocate's conclusion, reported by CBS, that those salaries are not driving what people owe. Tim O'Connor said the rates are paying for capital projects, operations, and maintenance, and that high compensation is a retention problem, not the pocketbook cause. Readers of right-leaning coverage get a payroll outrage. Readers of left-leaning coverage get no story at all.
Right-leaning coverage leads with the paydays and a host calling the department "a completely corrupt organization from top to bottom." The same pieces later mention the utility's claim that its rates stay lower than those of neighboring companies, but that point sits well below the meeting anger and the audit petition.
If worker pay is not the main cost, which spending produced the sudden jump in household bills?
Bottom line
The New York Post built the LADWP bill revolt around $3.84 million in top pay and skipped the city's ratepayer advocate saying salaries are not causing the spike, while left-leaning outlets never showed up.
The receipts — 6 facts one side's coverage lacks
- LADWP's five highest-paid workers collected a combined $3.84 million in 2025, and each earned more in overtime than in regular pay.
- 114 LADWP employees earned more than $500,000, collectively taking $66.1 million.
- LADWP rates surged 45% in the last year, compared with a 4% increase at Southern California Edison.
- Nine LADWP executives make more than $700,000 a year, and more than two dozen supervisors make more than $600,000.
- UCLA's Denise Grab said LADWP is playing catch-up for deferred maintenance after years of cheap rates, producing sticker shock.
- LADWP refused to provide the names of its five highest-paid employees despite multiple requests.
The Right View
Right-leaning coverage, led by the New York Post and California Post, frames the Controller payroll figures as evidence that LADWP workers are collecting extreme pay — including one supervisor at $779,192 and a mechanic with $505,769 in overtime alone — while customers face bills in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Those outlets highlight the $2.65 billion payroll-and-benefits total, quotes calling the utility corrupt or unaccountable, a heated commission meeting, and a 39,000-signature petition for an audit; they note LADWP’s defense (Palisades fire, storms, heat, hard-to-fill skilled jobs) but stress the department did not break down how much top overtime came from emergencies versus routine shortages. Center coverage from CBS California Investigates confirms high pay (nine executives above $700,000; more than two dozen supervisors above $600,000) and a 17 percent overtime jump to more than $499 million in 2025, but reports independent ratepayer advocate Tim O’Connor saying salaries are not the main bill driver compared with capital projects, operations, and maintenance. CBS also reports LADWP rates up about 45 percent in a year versus 4 percent at Southern California Edison — still generally lower than SCE, Glendale, and some peers — amid catch-up after deferred maintenance, an outdated rate structure, and warnings that rates could more than double.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: the core pay and overtime totals rest on published California State Controller records and LADWP’s own budget figures, not a single anonymous source, and they are paired with a public board meeting, a named petition drive, and on-the-record statements from the utility and the city’s ratepayer advocate. Established facts include the 2025 wage and overtime amounts, the count of employees above $500,000, overtime as 5 percent of a $10.8 billion budget, labor at 18 percent, the year-over-year overtime increase, the board’s rate-review resolution, and that LADWP rates have risen faster than inflation while remaining lower than some neighboring utilities. What remains contested, not proven, is whether the overtime is mainly emergency-driven or a product of chronic understaffing, whether top salaries are a meaningful cause of household bills (O’Connor says they are not the primary cost driver), and broader claims that the department is corrupt. No left-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch next for the scope and findings of the promised rate review, any independent or forensic audit, a public breakdown of overtime by emergency versus vacancy, identification of the unnamed top earners, and whether the board changes rate design, assistance programs, or hiring rules.
3 sources
More stories
The week's bottom lines, in your inbox
One email a week: the five stories that mattered and what they actually mean. Free.