Mayor appoints Beutner as interim head of the DWP

Villaraigosa said that the first deputy mayor’s primary task at the utility would be to ease tensions between the agency, ratepayers and the City Council.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday appointed First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as interim head of the Department of Water and Power, an agency buffeted by controversy this past month over a proposed electricity rate hike and budgeting practices.