As St. Pete officials undertake a request for proposals process to evaluate whether the city should cease its relationship with Duke Energy Florida and instead establish its own municipal electric utility, I can offer some advice that will save taxpayers a half-million dollars.

Don’t do it.

This isn’t some shill for Duke Energy. Residents’ concerns about affordability, reliability and transparency under Duke are valid, and Duke should continue working to assuage them.

But for anyone who is frustrated by the current status quo, imagine what those challenges would look like under the control of a local government that has zero track record in managing the massive amount of infrastructure required to provide electricity to more than 267,000 residents, tens of thousands of businesses, a swath of community amenities and other organizations with a presence in St. Pete.

And imagine the actual cost of this for taxpayers, who would be saddled with a protracted legal fight over eminent domain because Duke has already said its assets are not for sale.

Let’s take a look at the city’s track record.

Do residents want the city in charge of its electrical grid knowing leaders still haven’t completely addressed recovery from back-to-back hurricanes in 2024 (it’s now 2026)? While I’m sure some people support Mayor Ken Welch, those most impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton overwhelmingly believe the response was inadequate. There’s a reason people started calling the debris piles dotting neighborhoods across the city “Welch piles” as they sat for weeks uncollected.

Do they want a city managing their lights that can’t even run its own municipal marina?

Are they comfortable with the city of St. Petersburg managing electricity for hospitals, police stations, Fire Departments, nursing homes and more that can’t figure out what to do with 86 acres of concrete at the Tropicana Field site? This isn’t just a Welch problem. It dates back as far as Rick Baker’s last administration, and it has seen canceled deals, failed referendums and administration jockeying for the better part of the 21st century.

And for all the various leaders’ troubles, it’s becoming clear the Tampa Bay Rays’ days playing ball in St. Pete are numbered. The consolation prize, it seems, may just be sending them across the Bay to Tampa.

Then there’s the pier. How long did that take the city to hash out? The city selected a design in 2012 after a lengthy consideration process, only to see voters cancel it the next year. The process after that cancellation didn’t end until 2015, when the city selected what is now the St. Pete Pier, which didn’t open until 2020.

But sure, let’s let the city control the light switch.

What part of our city’s track record indicates it is capable of managing a major electric utility? And why do taxpayers need to foot a $500,000 bill to find an answer that’s already staring us in the face?

It may not be an apples-to-apples comparison, but apples to oranges offers plenty of insight. Clearwater is going the same route as St. Pete, and is a bit ahead in its process. There, various estimates say the cost for the city to acquire Duke assets and launch a municipal electric utility could surpass $1 billion.

In case anyone is wondering, St. Pete is bigger, both geographically and in terms of population.

And on a final note, what about hurricane season? Floridians in general were lucky in 2025, without a single direct hit from a storm. But weather predictions show an El Niño developing in the second half of this year, meaning strong hurricanes could be on the horizon this season.

While El Niño creates high wind shear in the Atlantic, it hasn’t historically helped with storms that originate in the Gulf, and previous El Niño years featured some above average activity, including 20 named storms in 2023, with Idalia in 2023 and Michael in 2018.

And as for 2024’s double feature, recovery checks still have not been distributed. The one thing that year on which there was an immediate response was getting the lights back on. And guess who did that? Duke.

Do we really want the city in charge when it comes time to turn the lights back on when the next storm hits?