St. Petersburg residents launch a charter petition for a city-owned utility, six weeks after Duke Energy's franchise expired

A coalition campaigning as Public Power St. Pete launched a petition drive in Williams Park on Wednesday 2 September 2026, seeking to put a municipal charter amendment on the 2028 ballot that would create a city-owned electric utility in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The timing is not incidental. Duke Energy's 30-year franchise agreement with the city expired on 31 July 2026. A franchise agreement is the instrument by which a city rents out its rights of way to an investor-owned utility, and when one lapses without renewal, the question of who should own the wires is briefly, genuinely open rather than rhetorical. The city council has already hired an outside firm to run a feasibility study, with findings expected later in 2026, so the petition runs alongside the city's own process rather than in place of it. Council member Richie Floyd and organiser Jason Scott were named at the launch by FOX 13 Tampa Bay.

Duke Energy opposes the effort and has put a number on it. A utility-commissioned study says acquiring the local system would cost up to $4.1 billion, require roughly 150 miles of new power lines, and take close to a decade to separate from the regional grid; the company warns the result could be local tax increases or cuts to public services. That figure is Duke's, produced by Duke's consultants, and belongs in the record as an opening position in a valuation fight rather than as a finding. The city's own study, when it lands, will be the first independent number.

Municipalisation attempts are common in the United States and completions are rare. The same question is on the November 2026 ballot in Ann Arbor, Michigan. What makes St. Petersburg worth logging is not the odds but the completeness of the mechanism: an expired franchise, a council-commissioned feasibility study, and a citizen charter petition all live at the same time. Most municipalisation campaigns get one of the three.

Several figures circulating around the launch could not be confirmed against any page this sweep was able to read. Florida Phoenix and Creative Loafing Tampa both refused the request. Reported through those outlets, and unverified here: a signature target of more than 16,200; annual franchise fees to the city of more than $20 million, totalling over $600 million across the 30-year term; and a claim by Food & Water Watch that Duke's Florida rates rose 49% between December 2020 and January 2026. FOX 13's account states organisers had not yet confirmed how many signatures they need, which directly conflicts with the 16,200 figure carried elsewhere. That conflict should be resolved before any of it is printed.