City of El Paso explains how Proposition K could impact operations
Published: Tue, 04/25/23
City of El Paso explains how Proposition K could impact operations
El Paso skyline and I-10. (KFOX14/CBS4)
KFOX14
by Jhovani Carrillo
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — During the first day of voting on Monday, several El Pasoans went to the polls to decide the fate of Proposition K.
If passed, Proposition K would require the City of El Paso "employ all available efforts" to municipalize El Paso Electric, start a city-run climate department, bring on renewable energy for city-owned facilities, and prepare annual climate mitigation, and preparedness and response plan, among other goals.
According to the City of El Paso, it is unknown at this time what it would cost for the municipalization of El Paso Electric.
While EPE is not currently for sale, the utility company told the city the estimated value is about $8 billion right now.
"We don't have a good grasp of what it would cost to municipalize the El Paso Electric. There's an unknown cost associated with that," said Laura Cruz-Acosta, the spokesperson for the City of El Paso.
Since the EPE provides services to parts of southern New Mexico, the city would have to conduct a feasibility study to look into the possibility of the utility company becoming city-owned.
The feasibility study would look into the cost of the utility assets, the construction costs of separating a city-owned system from the utility’s larger system. In addition, capital and operating expenditures for setting up standalone operations, technology and compliance costs, new services, and power supply options will all need to be considered when evaluating the true investment needed to municipalize.
The feasibility study is estimated to cost about $12 million and is a multi-year study that averages between 8 to 10 years, according to Cruz-Acosta.
The money to fund the study could come from taxpayers. However, no decisions have been made yet.
"You bring in a subject matter expert in terms of what it involved in every aspect of it and determine what are the steps needed and what are the costs associated with all of it. What are some of the legal questions that need to be answered?" said Cruz-Acosta.
KFOX14 asked the city what would happen if the study revealed that they could not municipalize the utility company.
Cruz-Acosta said, "We don’t know. If Prop K is approved and if the feasibility study says no, then the Council will need to interpret what the next steps are based on the proposed Climate Policy."
Cruz Acosta said there are roughly $154 million in known costs Proposition K could bring.
They include; a climate director, climate department personnel, climate department operations, an annual climate impact report, and more.