Altamonte Springs

City moving toward renewable energy to slash power bill

will launch its own municipal utility with the goal of providing electricity from solar, wind and other renewable energy sources — and to save about $2 million annually.

Hoping to slash the city’s annual $2 million power bill, Altamonte Springs soon will launch its own municipal utility with the goal of providing electricity from solar, wind and other renewable energy sources to government facilities, including City Hall and police and fire stations.

Residents and commercial properties — such as the Altamonte Mall on State Road 436 — will continue receiving power from Duke Energy as part of the city’s franchise agreement with the North Carolina-based power company.

The plan, approved by Altamonte Springs commissioners last week, is unique in Central Florida and comes after St. Petersburg officials voted last year to move toward having its entire city — not just its municipal facilities — operate with renewable energy in the coming years.

“We’re not taking over from Duke Energy,” City Manager Frank Martz said. “We formed a municipal electric utility in order to explore alternative energy in the new millennium and save our taxpayers money.”

The idea is for city buildings, streetlights and parks eventually to be self-powered by solar panels, wind turbines and other sources through the new Altamonte Electric Utility in an effort to reduce the city’s electric bill, Martz said.

Altamonte Springs’ regional water-reclamation facility on Keller Road, for example, uses about $1 million a year of electricity alone, according to Martz.

Because plans are still in the preliminary stages, he couldn’t say how much the city might save on power bills by generating its own power. It depends on how much electricity is generated from the alternative sources, Martz said.

Duke owns the electric transmission lines, transformers, poles and other equipment in Altamonte Springs to provide power to its customers in the Seminole County city. The utility’s 10-year franchise agreement with Altamonte Springs expires in September 2022.

Any surplus power created from alternative sources — such as solar panels — at cityowned facilities wouldn’t be transmitted through Duke Energy’s grid or power lines, Martz said. Still, details of the city utility are still being worked out and could take years to fully implement, he said.

“It’s a long-term Martz said.

Duke officials said they have not reviewed Altamonte Springs’ plans.

“We look forward to working with the city of Altamonte Springs as they develop their plan,” Duke spokeswoman Ana Gibbs wrote in an email to the Sentinel.

Altamonte Springs has no plans to expand the city utility to provide electricity to its nearly 45,000 residents and commercial properties, Martz process,”