LA’s troubled utility has delivered a familiar lesson along with its water and power: Government has almost no incentive to spend other people’s money wisely.

Indeed, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has stuck ratepayers with costs that good financial stewards would not have abided.

These include far-left climate fancies that do near-zero to alter global temperatures — and, as The California Post reported this week, extravagant labor expenses.

The Post found that LADWP shelled out a whopping $3.84 million to its five highest-paid employees in 2025; all five received more in overtime than in regular pay.

One worker took in more than $779,000, another banked more than $505,000 just in OT, and 114 employees collected more than $500K apiece.

Meanwhile, ratepayers’ bills are soaring. 

Customers point to opaque costs that jump, sometimes by multiples, for no apparent reason. 

That’s why Micah Reed, a San Fernando Valley resident with a $3,322.01 LADWP bill, gathered more than 39,000 signatures on a change.org petition to request an independent audit, along with summer rate relief. 

Those are reasonable asks.

And LADWP is not alone in freely spending ratepayers’ money.

The California Post reported on Wednesday that the Santa Clara Valley Water District will pay three CEOs (former, interim and incoming) simultaneously for a portion of next year — at a combined two-month cost of $840,000, before benefits. 

Yikes. How bad has a board’s management been when it sticks ratepayers with three overlapping salaries for the same top position?

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One former Santa Clara water board member even called the tripling up “funny” and likened it to a sitcom. (We’re not LOLing.)

Meanwhile, officials in LA are just as patronizing.

LADWP commission president Allan Marks gave a half-hour monologue at Tuesday’s commission meeting before letting residents speak.

The spiel covered electricity costs, heat waves and conservation tips; one resident dubbed it “the 30-minute mansplaining.”

And no wonder: It’s a bit rich to urge further resident conservation while the commission itself spends lavishly.

After all, residents need energy for daily life, and there’s only so much heat people can take on triple-digit days.

LADWP has defended its bloated compensation as necessary to staff and run the agency, citing storms, heat, fires and hiring troubles. 

But businesses that shrugged off similar (and often predictable) costs in the private sector would not survive long.

Instead of lectures, LADWP would do well to deliver transparency, cost savings — and the audit thousands of customers want. 

Enough with the wanton spending of other people’s money.