Karen Bass has ordered a halt on utility shutoffs for the rest of the year.
The Los Angeles mayor, 71, directed the LA Department of Water and Power to stop cutting electricity and water to residential customers who fall behind on payments through December 31. Bass acted after city residents saw bills spike during a stretch of record-breaking temperatures that forced heavy air conditioning use across the region.
“No LADWP customer who is unable to pay their residential bill will have their electricity or water turned off for the remainder of this year,” she said in a statement.
Bass framed the measure as direct relief for working families squeezed by climate-driven costs. “Running our air conditioners has been a necessity, and for too many Angelenos, the resulting increase in utility bills is a real burden,” she added.
The mayor told customers to pay what they can afford now while the shutoff freeze remains in place.
“Angelenos need swift relief, and I am taking concrete action to provide it,” Bass continued.
The policy landed days after one of the city’s best-known businesses went public with its own utility crisis. Canter’s Deli, the nearly century-old Fairfax District restaurant, revealed its LADWP bill had surged nearly $10,000 in four months to more than $34,000. The landmark deli warned the spike could force staffing cuts.
Bass said she asked the municipal utility to take action specifically for Angelenos “facing higher bills after the record heat.”
The mayor’s intervention puts a temporary floor under residential customers but leaves questions about how the utility will manage revenue shortfalls and whether commercial accounts like Canter’s will see similar flexibility. LADWP has not detailed any parallel programs for business ratepayers hit by the same rate structure and weather patterns.
The shutoff pause runs through the end of 2024.