Tampa Electric gets 25-year deal, residents get less than they deserve
December 5, 2008 at 9:49 am by Wayne GarciaThe 5-2 vote by the Tampa City Council yesterday is likely the right legal move. It is, however, the wrong political move.
The council approved a 25-year franchise agreement with Tampa Electric that gives the utility the right to use city-owned rights of way to string its power lines in return for paying millions into Tampa’s yearly budget. I wrote about the effort to slow the contract down and push for more conservation, a move away from burning coal and other green concessions from Tampa Electric by activists and Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena but acknowledged it was likely tilting at windmills. State law is stacked against locals, because it gives the authority over such power-generating and conservation matters to the state’s toothless Public Service Commission.
Still, it would have been a wise political move to, at least, make the franchise deal a 10-year pact to see if Tampa Electric keeps its promise to work in a new green task force that Mayor Pam Iorio wants to form. By keeping the agreement at 25 years, the city lost any leverage it has with the utility. That is bad public policy and shortsighted on the part of the mayor and the council members who voted for the pact. They are Thomas Scott, Gwen Miller, Joseph Caetano, Mary Mulhern and Charlie Miranda.
The good guys: Council members Saul-Sena and John Dingfelder, who voted no.
