“I do not believe it is prudent to commit the city to what could become years of costly litigation in pursuit of the municipalization [of electricity], particularly when we have a negotiated franchise agreement before us that I believe serves our residents,” Clearwater Councilmember Ryan Cotton said from the dais Thursday night.
Moments later, Clearwater City Council unanimously approved the first reading of a new 30-year franchise agreement with Duke Energy, effectively ending a two-year effort to determine whether the city should buy Duke’s electric infrastructure and operate its own utility.
The decision followed more than an hour of public comment that revealed a sharply divided audience. Supporters of the Dump Duke movement urged council members to continue pursuing municipal power, arguing that a city-owned utility could eventually lower electric bills (by a maximum of about $18 per month – though not guaranteed) and provide greater local control. Others warned that taking over Duke’s system would expose taxpayers to years of uncertainty, litigation and financial risk.
Ultimately, council members said the decision came down to fiscal responsibility.
While a city-commissioned feasibility study concluded Clearwater could eventually operate its own electric utility at lower rates, acquiring Duke’s infrastructure would require hundreds of millions of dollars upfront and almost certainly trigger one of the largest eminent domain cases in Florida history.
Councilmember David Allbritton said too many questions remained unanswered.
“I’ve been studying this for over a year now, and I still have concerns,” Allbritton said. “How many employees would be required? What is the specialized training, engineering expertise, union costs? What if a major hurricane struck before adequate financial reserves were established?”
Those concerns were amplified by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which devastated large portions of Pinellas County in 2024 and underscored the financial burden of rebuilding critical infrastructure after a major storm.
According to Clearwater’s feasibility study, purchasing Duke’s local electric distribution system could cost roughly $600 million. Duke’s own appraisal valued the infrastructure at more than $1 billion. Either figure would require substantial borrowing by the city.
These numbers far exceed the initial appraisal of $265 million. Since Duke is not offering a sale, the only recourse is for the city to litigate eminent domain, hence the substantially higher figure ($1 billion), meaning legal representation would literally double the cost for Clearwater.
As for the city’s roughly $600 million assumed cost, that figure was derived from the city’s feasibility study, which included start-up costs that the initial, independent appraisal omitted.
“The courts, not the city, will ultimately determine the acquisition price,” Allbritton said, questioning how many years it could take to resolve what he described would be Florida’s largest eminent domain case in history.
“Meanwhile,” he added, “what will happen to the utility rates during that time?”
Rather than continuing down that path, council opted to renew its relationship with Duke.
Under the agreement, Duke will continue providing electric service throughout Clearwater while the city maintains its existing 6% franchise fee. Alongside the franchise agreement, the utility also negotiated a memorandum of agreement committing to several community investments over the next 30 years, including economic development initiatives, resiliency funding, annual infrastructure updates and improvements benefiting downtown and North Greenwood.
The negotiations also produced an immediate financial benefit: Duke will provide Clearwater with an additional $2 million for city priorities — roughly four times the approximately $500,000 taxpayers spent on the feasibility study that launched the municipalization effort.
While municipal power may still offer long-term promise, the financial uncertainty, looming litigation and lessons learned from back-to-back hurricanes ultimately outweighed the potential savings.
The ordinance must still receive a second reading before the franchise agreement becomes final.