Clearwater officials recently allocated $500,000 to weigh the pros and cons of replacing Duke Energy with a municipal utility. At least one St. Petersburg City Council member wants to follow their lead.
Clearwater’s 30-year contract with the investor-owned conglomerate ends in 2025. City leaders unanimously approved a nine-month study Aug. 2 to discern if potential benefits – rate reductions and a more responsive provider – outweigh the costs of implementing new electric infrastructure.
Approval from predominantly Republican Clearwater officials is reverberating in left-leaning St. Petersburg. Councilmember Richie Floyd, a municipal utility advocate, said the unanimous vote showed studying the electric grid’s future is “reasonable” rather than “radical.”
“It gets us in a good position for future negotiations,” Floyd told the Catalyst. “It’s not a partisan issue – it’s a good governance issue.”
Melissa Seixas, president of St. Petersburg-based Duke Florida, said the company’s equipment was not for sale. She pushed back against Clearwater’s hasty decision at the Aug. 2 meeting, stating that “nobody knows our system better than us … even the most brilliant of consultants.”
Multiple Clearwater officials noted that her comments influenced their votes. “If the opposing party really doesn’t want you to do something, that raises my eyebrows,” said Mayor Bruce Rector. “Here, Duke really does not want us to do this study.”
Seixas clarified her intent in a recent interview. While she does not oppose the study, Seixas believes that Duke, Clearwater and St. Petersburg officials should “work together by sitting down to understand what’s important to them, what their priorities are.”
“And to me, we haven’t had that opportunity with Clearwater,” Seixas added. “My recommendation was that the council consider tabling the motion for an opportunity to … allow kind of the normal process to work.”
Floyd wants to study creating a municipal utility before negotiating a contract extension, which ends in 2026. He said those results would provide leverage that benefits the city and its residents.
“We can say, ‘Look, give us better terms of an agreement, one that makes it more affordable and meets our renewable energy goals,” Floyd said. “I think that just provides for a broad range of outcomes.”
Floyd is not alone in his desire for a similar study in St. Petersburg. Councilmember Brandi Gabbard broached the idea in February.
St. Petersburg-based Duke Energy Florida’s local roots date back to 1899. File photo.
The discussion began when Allison Mihalic, the city’s former sustainability and resilience director, struggled to provide a committee with renewable energy data due to challenges receiving it from Duke. Gabbard called the city’s 30-year contract with the corporation sunsetting in 2026 a “rare opportunity.”
She noted that concerned residents “do not want us to just rubber-stamp a new agreement” with Duke and prefer to explore alternatives. “I’m not saying today that I’m in favor of that,” Gabbard said in February.
“What I’m saying is, I believe we need to have a conversation about it.”
Any change would end a relationship nearly as old as the city. Duke’s local roots trace back to the St. Petersburg Electric Light and Power Company, which began serving residents in 1899.
Seixas credited the lengthy contracts for the municipalities considering a switch. She believes “a lot of it has to do with just not understanding the nature of the franchise agreement.”
A self-funded company dedicated to compiling independent energy data found that the average St. Petersburg electric bill increased by 11.3% from 2023 to 2024. In addition, local electric rates are 18.3% higher than the state average.
Find Energy also reported that St. Petersburg’s national cost ranking dropped 2,331 spots since March 2023. The city now places 24,770th out of 31,812 cities.
Seixas said Duke has renewed all 41 of its expiring franchise agreements over the past five years. Most do not have infrastructure purchasing options.
Floyd and Seixas both referenced Winter Park. The city formed a municipal utility in 2005 after residents overwhelmingly approved a referendum in 2003.
Floyd noted Winter Park residents have saved over 20% on their electric bills since ditching Duke. Seixas said the city had a buy-out clause, “and that’s the key difference.”
She hopes the company’s extensive local history will encourage productive discussions. Seixas said Duke would assist any municipality’s storm recovery efforts, “but a large company with a lot of experience has a set of resources that is difficult to match.”
Floyd hopes he and his colleagues will have “an actual open discussion about doing the study” in a committee meeting next month. He said the overarching goal is ensuring “we can have an affordable, sustainable utility that’s not polluting the environment needlessly.”
“I’m willing to negotiate with Duke if we can lower the impact on residents,” Floyd added. “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.”