Thrive
Duke: City-owned utility would cost over $1 billion
Clearwater officials allocated $500,000 to weigh the pros and cons of establishing a municipal utility in August 2024. St. Petersburg City Council members have also broached the subject.
Duke Energy Florida subsequently commissioned its own third-party analysis and released the findings Monday. Consultancy firm Concentric Energy Advisors determined it would cost Clearwater over $1 billion to seize the utility’s assets and provide power for roughly 120,000 residents and businesses.
“Throughout this process, we have been cooperative in sharing system information with the city’s consultant,” states the announcement. “We value our relationship with the city and remain committed to serving our Clearwater customers.”
Clearwater’s 30-year contract with Duke Florida ends Dec. 31. City leaders unanimously approved the nine-month study to discern if potential benefits, like rate reductions and a more responsive provider, outweigh the costs of creating a government-led power company.
Duke spokesperson Ana Gibbs told the Catalyst that the report cost was “well below” what Clearwater allocated to its study. The company is not passing on the expense to local customers.
Concentric’s analysis, dated April 28, found that Clearwater would spend between $1.13 and $1.25 billion to launch a municipal utility in 2029. The cost would increase to $1.38 billion and $1.52 billion in 2034.
Concentric analyzed the market value of St. Petersburg-based Duke Florida’s assets and costs associated with delineating and separating a portion of the local electrical grid. The firm also considered startup and transaction expenses, and compensation for the company’s power plant investments.
Clearwater would have to replace substations and underwater cables, and hire administrative and operational staff. The report notes that the city’s irregular boundaries and unincorporated areas would complicate the process.
The preliminary analysis does not include cost components related to stranded assets, storm damage, debt refinancing and capital improvements. Clearwater would no longer receive property taxes from Duke.
Perhaps most importantly for residents, the report does not offer a forecasted rate comparison. The city’s feasibility study should include that data.
In a prepared statement, Duke president Melissa Seixas said the 125-year-old company remains focused on “supporting our customers 365 days and also when they need us the most.” The utility gathered 27,000 resources, some from Canada, to mitigate over two million outages during Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton.
Seixas also noted Duke’s local charitable donations, support for local businesses and government partnerships. “We value our relationship with Clearwater and continue to work with them each day on projects, opportunities and addressing concerns,” she added.
St. Petersburg
Clearwater is home to about 70,000 Duke customers, compared to 161,000 in St. Petersburg. The company believes the cost of establishing a municipal utility in the Sunshine City would reflect that discrepancy.
“We would anticipate the amount would be more based on the infrastructure we have located in St. Petersburg,” Gibbs said.
A snapped electrical pole on 16th Street North in St. Petersburg following Hurricane Milton. Photo by Mark Parker.
In August, Councilmember Richie Floyd said Clearwater’s unanimous approval showed that studying the local electric grid’s future is “reasonable” rather than “radical.” St. Petersburg’s contract with Duke ends in 2026.
“It gets us in a good position for future negotiations,” Floyd said. “It’s not a partisan issue – it’s a good governance issue.”
Floyd and Seixas both referenced Winter Park in previous, separate interviews. The city formed a municipal utility in 2005 after residents overwhelmingly approved a referendum in 2003.
Floyd noted that Winter Park residents saved over 20% on their electric bills after ditching Duke. Seixas said the city had a buyout clause, “and that’s the key difference.”
“I’m willing to negotiate with Duke if we can lower the impact on residents,” Floyd said. “It’s all about making the city an easier place to live in the short term with costs, and in the long term by not burning fossil fuels as often anymore.”
Update
The City of Clearwater released a response to Duke’s study at about 2:45 p.m. Monday. Officials received a copy at the same time as local media and are still reviewing and analyzing the information.
The city manager and attorney will brief Clearwater council members on the report during regularly scheduled meetings this week. They approved their feasibility study due to concerns with soaring electric bills, preserving the urban tree canopy, burying power lines and right-of-way maintenance.
“The results of that study are expected in the next 90 days,” the city’s response read in part, “pending receiving the needed data from Duke Energy to finalize the report.”
J.E
May 25, 2025at3:01 pm
We need to get rid of DUKE. why are we buying Fl energy from a NC COMPANY . No wonder our bills so high… FLA POWER was a St.PETE City owned company, never should have been sold but that’s another subject and I don’t like reading comments like we need a BIG multi STATE company running our most important local utility, then questioning the city ability to operate its own company and to think a NC COMPANY has any accountability to our cities,it is mind blowing to me.
Lay-loni Keith
May 21, 2025at6:00 am
I can’t make heads or tails of this, and tbh, I don’t like higher costs, but I don’t think the city can handle it without breaking things.
Lay-lani Keith
May 21, 2025at5:11 am
I want a lower bill sooo bad, but I don’t have perfect faith that a big change is how we get there. I’m not sure the city can do a better job AND lower our bills.
Joseph Boone
May 20, 2025at7:05 pm
Trading one problem for another doesn’t seem smart. City would be taking on massive debt and paying interest for decades. Plus what about after big storms? Not sure a city-run system would have those same connections when we need them most
Bradley cochran
May 20, 2025at5:41 pm
Before we ditch Duke, maybe ask if the city’s actually ready to run something this big? They’ve already got a ton to fix and take care of as it is, and it’s not like things are running great now!
Alyssa haley
May 20, 2025at10:36 am
Everyone’s saying city power is the answer, but have you seen how the city handles basic stuff? Now imagine that during hurricane season.
OriginalJud
May 20, 2025at10:26 am
Of course a study commissioned by Duke is going to come up with such a number to scare the citizens.
Electric Energy should be like schools, fire , and police, municipal owned and committed to green energy initiatives and in this city a focus on residential solar, and even a small wind device for cloudy days.
Julia Burke
May 20, 2025at9:51 am
Just seems like taking on something SO HUGE when Clearwater can barely keep up with normal stuff (roads, repairs, flooding issues, buildings nearly collapsing…) would just be plain crazy.
Paul
May 20, 2025at8:38 am
Duke is scared to death of this proposal. The absurd amount of money they are pouring into TV advertising, the all out public relations blitz (not public affairs) confirm it.
These are the facts:
“reasonable” rather than “radical.”
“It’s not a partisan issue – it’s a good governance issue.”
Winter Park residents saved over 20% on their electric bills after ditching Duke.
I am a Duke shareholder. If Duke wants to negotiate in good faith and lower our rates to where they would be under municipal service, great. If not, Duke can easily absorb the loss
Lucas stone
May 20, 2025at6:06 am
I agree with the other comment—Duke Energy has delivered solid service, and there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Focus on the real issues the city’s facing instead of stirring up unnecessary disruption.
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
May 19, 2025at5:31 pm
City of St Pete Officials and City Council, please leave well enough alone. Duke energy has done a great job. I am pleased with their service. Polk county has all the utility service and it is a mess for residents.