To : Whom it may concern;

Re: LA DWP
harrasment, intimidation tactics , blatent discrimination.

My name is Tess Aguilar, I live in a 1 bedroom older (1940s) duplex in West Los
Angeles Ca.

In Mid -Febuary of 2009 , I rented a somewhat delapitated , in poor condition -

1 bedroom apartment in West Los Angeles .
I contacted the utility companys to have serveice turned on in my name for march
1st 2009.Upon Contacting gas company , I was informed of a pending investigation
against my neibor for non payment /utility theft (He was stealing gas from the
source - they removed his meter in 2008 .
I had to prove I was a new tenant and pay an extra security deposit.

Then I contacted the DWP, to have service turned on in my name.I was at my unit
clearing debris and a dwp employee arrived to check my service .
He then noticed that my neibor ( who was disconnected in 2006 for non payment )
meter was not spinning however his porch light was on.He investigated it more and
concluded my neoibor was stealing from me - not them and apologized "that there
was nothing he could to stop him from doing so - as the DWP only gets involved
when people steal from them. Anything between tenants is their problem"
So in other words -

I would be paying my neibors bill every month if I didnt hire a licenced

electrican to disconnect him form me.

However further investigation proved on the same day that my neibor was stealing
utilites from them via the pole and had mickey moused with the wiring in the
attick of which we shared(he has unlimited access to it ) and suggested that I put
up a divider in the addict preventing him from doing so in the future.
They promptly disconnected him.
After disconnecting my neibor .( he is an old hispanic man with a 3 year old grand
daughter who lives with him) Came to me a begged that I allow him to plug into my
unit for his refridgerator until he could resolve the issue at the end of the
week.
A few days days later I had no service . I contacted DWP to find out why and was
informed that I was denied service until I could prove I was a new tenant by
presenting a picture ID , a letter from my land lord and my lease.

Unfortunatley for me , my landlord was in China for a month and I had lost my
purse with my wallett in it a few days prior to my service being dissconected and
aske them to please cut me a break as DMV takes weeks to mail replacmements.
I was without service for 2 weeks.During that time I did as the technician
suggested and built a partition in the attick between him and I .

My neibor did as he promised and went to DWP to make ammends with a payment plan
.He was told back charges would be almost $4, 000.00.
They refused to work with him on payments and told him it must be paid in full
before they would consider connecting service to him.

My neibor came to me in tears that day and with a wrtitten promise - note
begging me to allow him to plug into my unit for 6 months while he makes payments
to DWP... He would split the bill and offered a secuirty deposit to make me feel
more comfortable helping him.With a small child in the house I felt obligated and
after all he could steal it from me if I refused.
2 weeks went by and 2 DWP employees came to my house and told me allowing Him to
plug into my unit was against the rules and allowing him to pay 1/2 my bill in a
mean time was against the law.
I asked for clarification -
I thought what goes on between neibors is our problem.

He clairified that if my neibor was stealing utilites from me - thats okay and my
problem.
But if I allow him to plug in - thats not okay .
GO FIGURE.

Furthermore due to to the "tampering" with the meter box...( or his non payment )
The entire propertys wiring would be required to be updated with a new pannel and
we had 10 days to comply or service would be turned off for both units.

My landord has refused upgrade the pannel - I dont blame him it will cost 3k .
I am not in the position nor is any of this my fault and I dont feel I should be
used by DWP to get my neibor to pay his bill in full, or to have my landlord
update a pannel that is working properly .
I am being harrased , my neibor is not being treated fairly , he is being
discriminated agaist .
I have reseached others in this position in my neiborhood who did the same thing
he has done and all of them were allowed to may payments with DWP.