CLEARWATER, Fla. — The line of Clearwater residents looking to speak with Duke Energy on Monday morning trailed on for over a block, as the energy company held a community outreach event to bring its services directly to residents.
With the holiday season here, residents showed up in droves after hearing they could learn about programs available to help decrease their electric bills.
“It was dark when I got here,” one resident in attendance, Michael Scott, said. “If I save $2, I’m happy.”
It isn’t common for an energy company to offer an event of this kind to residents — but what’s happening between Duke Energy and Clearwater isn’t all that common, either.
In September, Clearwater voted to move forward in the process of potentially cutting ties with Duke Energy and operating its own electric utility company, with the current 30-year franchise agreement set to expire at the end of the month. Clearwater believes this could save residents 10% on their electric bills.
When that deal does expire, the current deal will continue until a new one is reached, so residents don’t need to worry about their lights shutting off.
Clearwater is still actively considering ending its long partnership with Duke Energy at some point in the near future. It’s a process that isn’t as simple as them just wanting to do so. Duke says it isn’t just going to hand over its business, so the city would have to acquire infrastructure through eminent domain — and that’s something that could take years.
Duke has argued that this switch won’t lead to guaranteed savings and that creating a city power service can be risky and take years.
“There will be a fight but I just hope it’ll be a successful one and we can lower some rates,” Clearwater councilmember David Allbritton said.
Duke Energy told 10 Tampa Bay News the location of their event on Monday in Clearwater was unrelated to the ongoing battle with Clearwater.
“This community really needed our help,” spokesperson Aly Raschid said. “We’re here today to talk about this event and what we’re doing in the community to help the local Clearwater community, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to connect with them and provide the resources that they need to pay their bills this holiday season.”
“There were a lot of folks who were behind on their bills, and so we wanted to start here,” Raschid said.
Raschid said the goal was to educate residents about cost-saving programs and inform them that the company plans to lower rates by 22% in March, saving the average customer $44 for every 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity used.
The City of Clearwater did not respond to a request for a statement on the potential of cutting ties with Duke. But residents said they don’t feel strongly one way or another.
“As long as they are legal and the rates are affordable, that’s all it matters to me,” Scott said.