At the heart of the debate are skyrocketing electric bills and growing frustration from residents.<\/p>\n
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 It\u2019s a conversation that\u2019s been brewing for years \u2014 but now, St. Petersburg could be inching closer to a major shakeup in who powers the city.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the debate: skyrocketing electric bills and growing frustration from residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the cost continues to go up every year, and there are a number of people who struggle to pay their power bills,\u201d St. Pete City Council Member Corey Givens Jr. said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we want to explore a public utility option.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, the city is under contract with Duke Energy, but with that agreement set to expire in 2026, city leaders are weighing whether to renew it or walk away.<\/p>\n
During a recent meeting, council members questioned Duke directly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas Duke gone on record to say they\u2019re willing to lower rates if that means renegotiating a new agreement?\u201d one asked.<\/p>\n
A Duke Energy representative responded bluntly: \u201cWe cannot have a separate rate for the city of St. Petersburg or Winter Garden. All of our rates are set across the 35 counties and 119 cities we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The response hasn\u2019t satisfied many residents \u2014 hundreds have already signed a petition urging the city to cut ties with Duke.<\/p>\n
But the council remains split.<\/p>\n
Givens is urging caution, pointing to a similar study already underway in Clearwater. He says the city should wait to see the outcome before spending taxpayer money on a duplicate study.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to pump the brakes and at least find out what\u2019s going to happen in Clearwater, analyze that, and weigh the pros and cons before we move forward as a city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other members say there\u2019s no time to waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard my colleague say pump the brakes. I don\u2019t think we have time to pump the brakes,\u201d Council Member Brandi Gabbard said. \u201cThe contract expires in August 2026. That\u2019s exactly one year from now.\u201d<\/p>\n
If St. Pete moves forward, the city could form its own public utility, a major move that would give local leaders more control over electric rates and billing structures.<\/p>\n
The issue is far from settled. But the vote by the city\u2019s sustainability committee \u2014 2\u20131 in favor of drafting a resolution to request bids \u2014 signals momentum behind the idea.<\/p>\n
For now, the future of St. Pete\u2019s power remains uncertain, but residents and leaders alike agree: change is on the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the heart of the debate are skyrocketing electric bills and growing frustration from residents. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-3738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}