St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch’s administration will move forward with creating a request for proposals (RFP) on a feasibility study evaluating a potential municipal electric utility, after the City Council approved a resolution calling on him to do so.

But Welch is also suggesting a short-term solution with Duke Energy, which currently provides electric service for the city under a 30-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) that expires next year.

“It is vital that we approach the question of a municipal electric utility with a clear-eyed and realistic analysis of both the costs and the potential benefits,” Welch wrote in a memo to the City Council Friday.

The memo outlined the administration’s plans to “begin the process of developing a feasibility study RFP informed by” a “high-

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