PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — With energy bills climbing, neighbors in St. Pete are asking city leaders to rethink who powers their homes.
A local organization said there could be cheaper options than Duke Energy and they’re pushing for change as families struggle to keep up with rising costs.
Watch full report from Casey Albritton
"I love this area. I was born and raised here in St. Petersburg 78 years ago," said John L. Smith, a homeowner.
Smith has no plans to move any time soon.
"We love the city and we would like to continue to love the city with a lower rate in our electrical bill," said Smith.
But he said with prices up, it makes it hard to make ends meet.
"It's not just with the electrical, but the cost of living…everything is going up. Inflation is skyrocketing," said Smith.
His energy bill has slowly increased over time, and now averages around $275 a month.
"I try to keep the temperature around 77, 78 degrees constantly all during the Summer, even in this three-digit weather we are having now so that helps in saving a little," said Smith.
Oscar Hadley lives in St. Pete and his energy bills are around $400 a month.
His family does what they can to afford living in St. Pete.
"Turning lights off…and things like that and a timer on the water heater," said Hadley.
St. Pete is currently operating under a 30-year energy-franchise agreement with Duke Energy and the contract is set to expire in a year from now.
With that deadline coming up, a local community organization called Faith in Florida is petitioning for the city to drop Duke Energy and to run its own utilities, which could bring lower rates and give taxpayers more influence.
"It's anywhere from 10% to 40% in savings… it just kind of depends on local infrastructure," said Nick Carey with Faith in Florida.
But those savings in utility bills could take some time.
According to the petition called "Dump Duke", people could see a short-term increase in taxes, but long-term, they would end up saving on their energy bills.
Duke Energy sent a statement saying the company values the relationship with St. Pete and has worked hard to serve St. Pete for more than 125 years, including strengthening the grid and deploying self-healing technology that helps restore power when bad weather occurs.
They also said recent energy increases were associated with the company’s emergency response to last year's storms.
The City of St. Pete will be considering an RFP for a feasibility study next week to look into how much money people could actually save and how difficult it would transition away from Duke Energy.
Homeowners said while they don't necessarily have a problem with Duke Energy, they wouldn't mind seeing a change.
"It makes a great difference, like I said, with everything going up you want lower bills, especially electric," said Hadley.
"If we can get something a lot better, I'm for it," said Smith.
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