CLEARWATER, Fla (WFLA) — Clearwater’s city officials have allocated an additional $100,000 to explore the potential of establishing a municipal power company, aiming to end their reliance on Duke Energy.
This additional funding will extend the current feasibility study to include an appraisal phase, as decided by the council at their recent meeting.
The funds will be sourced from special project revenues, ensuring no changes to the city’s budget, tax rates, or utility fees. Should the appraisal yield unsatisfactory results, the council retains the option to reconsider their approach.
“Our goal is to equip our taxpayers with comprehensive information,” expressed Council member Mike Mannino.
The council seeks to deepen their understanding of the implications and logistics of such a significant undertaking. However, some suggestions might lead to legal confrontations with Duke Energy, as the council underscored on Wednesday, noting that Duke Energy has already stated that their infrastructure is not available for purchase.
“Florida Power said the same thing, and they were sold. Progress Energy also said the same thing and then they were sold. And Duke has said the same thing and they just sold a 20% equity stake of their entire company. So I’ve heard that many times. Nothing in life is for sale until it is,” said David Margolis, City Attorney.
In a statement last month, Duke Energy highlighted shortcomings in NewGen’s study, saying some of it eliminated speculated savings, and that they would be willing to address areas of concern during negotiations.
City leaders said they are sticking to their commitment of doing the study.
“We’re just trying to do the right thing for our citizens,” said Mayor Bruce Rector.
The city attorney said at some point they will sit down with Duke Energy and they don’t know if they’ll even be interested in making a purchase offer to Duke. It all depends on what comes from the appraisal.
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