The summer heat may have the Southland but LADWP bills are causing a different kind of heat stroke.
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Countless LADWP customers were caught off guard by the outsized bills - with some of them in the thousands of dollars.
"This summer was especially problematic. It was very hot for a very long time. In the evenings it wouldn't cool off, and so customers tended to leave their air conditioning a lot longer," said Sharon Grove, who heads LADWP's customer service division.
Grove brought a conservation expert to a Northridge home, where the owners were hit with more than a thousand dollars in charges over two months.
"We don't keep lights on when we're not in a room, our lights are off," said Deborah, a resident. "The temperature is up to 78. I mean, we're really mindful of that."
Hot weather is only partly to blame. Back in 2015, LADWP did pass a series of rate increases which now get tacked on every summer.
"For five years, every July 1, the rates inch up a little bit," Grove said.
And then there's a section of the bill called "tiered pricing." If you go over the initial electric and water allotment from LADWP, the prices jump even higher.
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So not only are you paying more for the extra electricity, but you're also paying a higher rate for it. And in a heat wave, that could add up to a lot of money.
"You take notice when you're doing your bills every month and you're like, woah!" Deborah said.
The DWP said the increase at Deborah's house was due to a 20 percent boost in power usage.
The energy audit found a handful of ways to whittle it down, including a more efficient pool pump.
However, Groves is worried that summer heat waves are the new normal -- the new expensive normal.
"Our summers are hotter and they're longer. So even if you're setting your air conditioner a little warmer, it's running for a longer amount of time to keep your home cool," Groves said.