Department of Water and Power personnel were seeking the cause of a brief electrical outage Friday at Los Angeles International Airport, according to a spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports.

The outage affected some passenger areas and traffic signals on access roads, but did not have a significant impact on flights or other operations, said spokeswoman Nancy Castles.

Power was restored about 20 minutes after going out about 2 p.m., she said.

[Updated at 5:58 p.m.: Castles said 16 flights at Terminals 4, 5, 7 and 8 were delayed an average of 30 minutes because of on-and-off power outages that occurred between 2 and 3 p.m.

"The flight delays were due to passengers delayed in processing through federal security screening because of the outages," she said.]

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-- Kim Christensen

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa celebrated an environmental milestone on Thursday, confirming what had been predicted for much of last year: the Department of Water and Power managed to secure 20% of its power from renewable sources, including wind and solar power, in 2010.

Villaraigosa promised to reach that goal during the 2005 election campaign. Sustaining it may be another matter, according to a draft report issued two months ago by the DWP, the nation's largest municipally owned utility.

In that report, DWP officials warned that its renewable-energy portfolio would steadily slip backward over the next five years, to 13% in 2015, unless the utility received a major infusion of cash. In that same report, DWP officials recommended that the utility scale back the ambitious renewable-energy promise that Villaraigosa made in his 2009 inaugural -- getting 40% of the DWP's power from renewable sources by 2020.

The mayor said Thursday that he was now pushing for a 33% renewable goal by 2020. DWP officials warned last month that even that more conservative goal -- when combined with other long-term expenses at the DWP -- could result in electricity-rate hikes of 5% to 8% in each of the next five years.

High winds knocked down trees and caused power outages throughout Southern California overnight and Thursday morning, leaving thousands of residents in the dark.

About 32,260 Southern California Edison customers were without power Wednesday night, said spokesperson Mashi Nyssen. The most affected areas included San Bernardino, Lancaster, Bell Gardens, Inglewood, Downey, Running Springs, Ventura and Palm Desert. Edison serves about 4.9 million customers, taking in most of Southern California with the exception of Los Angeles and several other areas with municipal utilities.

[Updated at 10:20 a.m.: As of 9:40 a.m., Southern California Edison had 27,009 customers without power due to storms, spokesman Paul Klein said. Hardest-hit areas include: San Bernardino, Loma Linda, Lake Arrowhead, Springville, Lancaster, Mammoth Lake, Redlands, Palos Verdes Estates and Pasadena. Most of the outages started being reported shortly after 3:30 a.m., Klein said.

“We made some progress,” Klein said. “We have restored power to about 5,000 people since the morning.  It’s kind of a fluid situation. Our crews have been working since the storms started and they’ll continue to work around the clock.”]

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also reported problems affecting about 3,000 customers, mostly in Silver Lake and Lincoln Heights. Reports of outages began arriving in batches around 3 a.m., said spokesperson Kim Hughes.

A portion of Silver Lake, however, was without power from 10:30 p.m. until about 2:15 a.m.

“Our key focus is to get the power back on as safely as possible,” Hughes said. “If someone sees a downed wire, they should consider it energized and dangerous." And they should call 1-800-DIAL DWP.

Some outages were caused by falling trees and limbs, which also damaged cars, and resulted in minor injuries for at least two drivers. One tree fell onto a house in Hollywood, knocking down power lines but causing no injuries.

Morning television crews found smashed cars all over, including an oak that crushed a vehicle in San Fernando. Trees also toppled onto cars in Atwater and Los Feliz. Blowing tumbleweeds forced a freeway closure in Bell Gardens, according to KABC Channel 7.

KTLA Channel 5 found a driver who had a close call. Greg Mora told KTLA that he avoided a tumbleweed only to have a tree crash onto his car a block later. He escaped with scratches.

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-- Howard Blume

About 2,000 homes and businesses in the Cheviot Hills area of Los Angeles lost power Saturday night as a strong Pacific storm continued to soak the region with rain.

Maychelle Yee, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Water and Power, said the outage occurred about 7:30 p.m. and affected customers around Pico and La Cienega boulevards. She added that the loss of electricity probably was due to the weather.

-- Dan Weikel

The Los Angeles City Council failed Wednesday to override Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s veto of a ballot measure that would have given council members the power to fire the leadership of the Department of Water and Power.

Seven council members voted to override Villaraigosa’s veto, three votes shy of the number needed to overturn it.  Eight lawmakers voted to uphold the veto.

The vote culminated a months-long battle about control of the embattled utility, which some council members view as an out-of-control agency.

The proposal — which had been drafted to be placed on the ballot for municipal elections in March — would have given the council the power to remove the top executive and the commissioners of the DWP, the nation’s largest municipally owned utility. Under current law, the mayor selects the DWP leadership subject to council approval, but the council has no authority to remove the mayoral appointees.

Already on the March 8 citywide ballot is a council-backed measure to create a ratepayer advocate to look out for the public’s interest.

During debate Wednesday, supporters of the plan to give the council authority to fire DWP leadership said the measure was needed to reform a giant agency that had lost the public trust and operated in a secretive manner.

Christmas won't be as bright this year without the annual Holiday Light Festival in Griffith Park.

The DWP has mounted a display of holiday lights for 14 years along a one-mile segment of Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park, attracting more than half-a-million visitors each year.

But the L.A. Department of Water and Power announced in July that the annual November-December event would be canceled because a major water pipeline project would be underway.

Much of the construction is taking place on Crystal Springs Drive, and temporarily halting the work would jeopardize the targeted completion date of November 2011, DWP officials said.

The agency is building a water line that will connect the North Hollywood Pump Station with the Ivanhoe Reservoir in Silver Lake, requiring 11,200 feet of new steel pipe to be installed in Griffith Park.

“Due to the cost and amount of time needed to halt a major construction project … it is in the public’s best interest to cancel this year’s event,” DWP officials said in a statement.

Aging pipes, low water-pressure problems and the need to comply with federally mandated water-quality regulations prompted the water project, according to the statement.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has selected a Seattle-based energy consultant to run the Department of Water and Power, offering him up as the sixth general manager to lead the agency since he took office.

Ron Nichols, managing director of the energy practice of Navigant Consulting Inc., was making the rounds of City Hall on Tuesday to discuss his nomination with City Council members, who will vote on the mayor’s choice.

Councilman Herb Wesson, who met Nichols shortly before 10 a.m., voiced confidence that he would serve as a “nonpolitical” executive for the DWP, which has been in turmoil as it attempts to meet the mayor’s renewable-energy goals. “He won’t try to play the politics, and that might be the breath of fresh air the department needs,” Wesson said.

If Nichols is approved by council members, he will take the post at a time of political tensions between the nation’s largest municipally owned utility and ratepayers, business leaders and various elected city officials.

The DWP had a bruising rate fight with the City Council earlier this year, one that nearly took the city to the financial brink. More recently, the utility took steps to back away from Villaraigosa’s promise to make renewable energy, such as wind and solar, 40% of its energy portfolio by 2020, drawing an outcry from the environmentalists that backed the mayor when he ran for office.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday vetoed a measure that would have asked voters to give the City Council power to fire the top executive at the Department of Water and Power.

The mayor issued his veto message a few hours after the Council voted 10 to 1 to put the proposal on the March 8 municipal election ballot. In his veto message, Villaraigosa said that if the council wants to change the city commission system, it should look at every agency, not just the DWP.

“I am disapproving the proposed ballot language inasmuch as it seems to reform the governance of one city department before we have had an opportunity to take a comprehensive assessment of all city departments,” he wrote.

The council voted on the plan, which would allow the council by a two-thirds vote to fire the DWP general manager. The proposal would also have allowed council members to remove any of the five DWP commissioners, who are also chosen by the mayor.

The election ballot will be prepared early next month, said Julie Wong, spokeswoman for Council President Eric Garcetti. That means that if the council wants to override the mayor’s veto, an action that would require 10 votes, they would need to do so by Jan. 7, Wong said.

Critics have warned that the ballot measure, one of three dealing with the DWP, could complicate the effort to hire a new general manager, the utility’s sixth in three and a half years. Several council members disagreed, saying the proposal would enable the public to exert more leverage over the utility.

“The more accountability we have at the Department of Water and Power, the better for the ratepayers and the better for the people,” Councilman Tony Cardenas said.

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-- David Zahniser and Patrick McDonnell at Los Angeles City Hall

The Los Angeles City Council sent voters a ballot measure on Tuesday that would allow council members to remove the top executive of the DWP by a two-thirds vote.

The measure, one of 11 scheduled to appear on the March 8 ballot, would also give  the council power to fire DWP commissioners, who are picked by the mayor but confirmed by the council. And it is one of three that would change the way the DWP is run. The only person who can currently fire the DWP general manager and commissioners is the mayor.

Councilman Tony Cardenas said the proposal would help create “checks and balances” at the DWP between the mayor and the council. Councilwoman Jan Perry, who also backed the measure, said it would help council members get more timely information from the utility, regardless of who is running it.

Two weeks ago, the council deadlocked 7 to 7 on the plan, with neither side prevailing. At the time, some council members said they feared Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would veto the ballot measure.

When the matter was reconsidered Tuesday, the proposal sailed onto the ballot by a 10 to 1 vote, with only Councilman Jose Huizar opposed.

Critics of the proposal have warned that the ballot measure will make it more difficult to recruit a replacement for Interim DWP General Manager Austin Beutner, who is also the mayor’s “jobs czar.” Villaraigosa is attempting to find a new DWP general manager -- his sixth in 3½ years.
               
Villaraigosa spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton did not respond to a request for comment.

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-- David Zahniser and Patrick McDonnell at Los Angeles City Hall

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's top appointee at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said Tuesday he would step down from his post at the end of the year, the latest example of churn in an agency that has experienced frequent leadership turnover since the mayor has been in office.

DWP Commission President Lee Kanon Alpert said the volunteer post had forced him to spend huge amounts of time away from his law practice and his family.

"I just can't any longer continue to do it," Alpert told the audience at the board's regular meeting.

Fighting back tears as he spoke, Alpert thanked Villaraigosa, the City Council and Brian D'Arcy, the head of the powerful DWP employee union. "We have worked exceedingly well together," he said, referring to D'Arcy.

The announcement comes as the utility is considering a plan to raise electricity rates by an average of 5% to 8% each of the next five years. The departure also follows a period of upheaval for the nation's largest municipally-owned utility as it attempts to meet the mayor's lofty environmental goals by dramatically expanding its use of renewable energy.