CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) — The city of Clearwater is set to discuss a feasibility study on Monday that showed that city residents could save millions of dollars if the city offers its own electricity services and drops Duke Energy.
The study claims that a city-owned electric utility company could save the average Clearwater resident $17 a month in its first year.
To get its own utilities, Clearwater would have to buy Duke Energy’s system, which is estimated to be worth $1.1 billion.
Duke Energy has been providing services to Clearwater residents since 1995. A 30-year agreement is set to expire between Clearwater and Duke Energy on Dec. 31, 2025.
The Clearwater City Council is set to discuss the study on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Duke Energy released the following statement regarding the study:
Duke Energy Florida remains committed to serving our Clearwater customers and we look forward to working with the city on the best path forward which we believe is renewing the franchise agreement. The study that Clearwater commissioned to look at the cost of seizing the electric grid and creating a government run power company was a “desktop estimate” that showed the potential cost to the city could be close to $1 billion, which is not far off from the $1.1 billion price tag outside energy experts came up with in a report earlier this year. The city’s own report also made it clear that “there can be no guarantee that Clearwater…will achieve cost savings.” The bottom line is that creating a city power company would be enormously expensive, risky and take years.
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