The city of St. Petersburg has taken another small step toward determining whether it will drop Duke Energy and operate a municipal-run electric utility.
Following a request from the City Council, Mayor Ken Welch’s administration has started accepting bids from consulting companies to complete a study evaluating the pros and cons of the move. According to the project description, the study should assess whether a city-run utility would help lower the cost of residents’ electric bills and if city control would make it easier for St. Petersburg to achieve its clean energy goals, among other potential benefits.
City officials pledged years ago that all homes, businesses and infrastructure within city limits would be completely powered by renewable energy by 2035, though it’s unclear how much progress it’s made toward that goal.
The city’s request for bids also lays out a series of deadlines, imposing a concrete timeline on what has so far been a largely hypothetical conversation at City Hall. Proposals from consultants are due by 3 p.m. March 19, and a public meeting is scheduled April 3 to short-list the top consultants. By June 4, City Council could be getting the final price tag for a feasibility study, at which point the council members will have to decide if they want to commit city money to further researching the idea.
Clearwater has already completed such a study, costing up to $500,000. It found that leaving Duke to form a city-run utility could save residents millions on their bills.
In recent weeks, energy advocacy groups in St. Petersburg and Clearwater have been raising opposition to municipal grids, hiring canvassers to distribute flyers that warn of higher property taxes and ballooning city debt.
Duke has said the groups “are not controlled by Duke Energy,” but both the utility and the groups have declined to say whether Duke is providing funding for the effort.