Janisse Quiñones is stepping down as CEO and Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), effective Friday (March 27), to take on a new leadership role modernizing Puerto Rico’s electric grid.
According to an official announcement from LADWP, Quiñones will leave the nation’s largest publicly owned water and power utility after joining as its top executive in 2024. She was nominated by Mayor Karen Bass, who praised her contributions in a statement Wednesday (March 4).
“Janisse brought steady leadership and engineering expertise to LADWP during a critical period for our city,” Bass said. “Her focus on resilience, reliability, and strengthening the workforce has helped position the Department for continued progress.”
Quiñones, who was born and raised in Caguas, Puerto Rico, will begin work Monday (March 30) as CEO of Luma, a private company that operates and manages Puerto Rico’s electric power transmission and distribution system. In a statement released by Luma, she called the role “a professional honor and a deeply personal commitment,” adding, “Strengthening and modernizing the Island’s electric system is essential to economic growth, public safety, and quality of life.”
Quiñones called her time in Los Angeles one of the greatest honors of her career. “The true strength of LADWP lies in its people,” she said. “I had the privilege of working alongside dedicated public servants whose professionalism and resilience power Los Angeles every day.”
During her tenure, Quiñones oversaw major changes at LADWP, including reinforcing the electric grid and water system, enhancing wildfire coordination, and advancing a cultural transformation within the organization. She also guided the utility’s exit from coal power, announcing in December 2025 that the utility had stopped receiving coal-powered electricity.
Her departure comes at a turbulent time for the agency. As NBC Los Angeles reported, Quiñones and LADWP faced criticism over their response to the January 2025 Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes. A key reservoir — the Santa Ynez Reservoir — had been drained for nearly a year for maintenance, leaving firefighters without adequate water pressure during the blaze. The DWP maintained that even a full reservoir would not have prevented the pressure issues, given the extraordinary demand on the system. A state investigation in November 2025 backed that position, finding that pipe flow rates “would have been a limiting factor in maintaining pressure and the system would have been quickly overwhelmed.”
City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez expressed concern about the timing of the transition, telling the Los Angeles Times she was “totally shocked” by the announcement. “It couldn’t come at a worse time for our city,” Rodriguez said. “The Department of Water and Power has a great deal of work to do, from the Palisades fire recovery to the infrastructure they’re building out along the East San Fernando Valley light rail line.”
Among LADWP’s ongoing projects is a $2.6-billion upgrade of the city’s Convention Center and a $650-million plan to place power lines underground in Pacific Palisades to prevent future fires. The utility is also working toward the city’s goal of transitioning to 100% clean energy by 2035.
Former DWP board president Richard Katz noted the challenge ahead: “We are fortunate to have among the cheapest utility rates in the country. It’s going to be a struggle, but we have to keep it that way.”
Before joining LADWP, Quiñones served as Senior Vice President of Electric Operations at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). Her $750,000 annual salary was designed to be competitive with private utility companies.
Mayor Bass is expected to announce interim leadership for LADWP in the coming days. The city said the transition has been coordinated to ensure stability and uninterrupted service to Angelenos.
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