Garcetti plans to rebuild city's 'trust' in DWP

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If you are one of hundreds of thousands of Angelenos who were overcharged by the Department of Water Power's new billing system, be prepared to chill for about a half hour if you plan to call the company's customer service line to complain. 

At least, that's what new westside Resident, Keila, had to do when she tried to get service online.

"There was a message that it will process the order and contact me if there were any questions," she said. "After not hearing back, I decided to call, only to find out the wait time was over 82 minutes!"

Mayor Eric Garcetti and new Department of Water and Power General Manager, Marcie Edwards, gathered at City Hall Tuesday morning to address these and other current issues with the DWP.

"I'm determined not just to fix what's wrong but to go a step beyond that and to make this good again," said Garcetti.  

Among the main concerns with the department are the fickle billing system, long call times, and costumer service concerns. 

"Our most immediate goal is to fix the billing problems that came when the department installed a new billing system," said Garcetti. "We got hundreds of calls, my own father called me and said 'I was on hold for forty minutes, what's going on?'"

Garcetti has already hired 50 new representatives and implemented a call back system, which calls you back instead of having to wait hours on the line. 

The billing system, which was replaced in September, is still glitchy and has sent incorrect bills to frustrated customers.

Edwards, who is on her ninth day of the job, ackowledges the flaws in the department's billing system.

"This billing system in all honesty should have been replaced 20 years ago," she said. "It's almost 40 years old." 

Still, she said it will take time for the new system to be fully efficient. 

But before these changes can take place, the city must gain the DWP's trust back, and Garcetti is well aware. 

"We are going to restore pride in this Utility, he said. "Restore pride that you feel, that the workers feel, that our city lawmakers feel."