EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Paso City Council has lit the path the $4.3 billion El Paso Electric (EPE) sale.
Council on Tuesday approved a settlement agreement for the pending sale of EPE to IIF, the investment group purchasing the utility, by a 5-4 vote. Mayor Dee Margo casted the tie-breaking vote.
Council negotiated items such as protecting investments, the creation of a new board of directors to oversee future settlements, as well as keeping El Paso Electric’s Headquarters here in town, and ensured job safety for our current employees.
“Specifically the headquarters will not relocate out of El Paso so long as IIF owns the company,” City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said, “Secondly, it says that the transaction will not impact the employees, and the employees will not be moved outside of the service area. When you talk about negotiations and what you put in there that’s exactly what was concerning to the public and to the council and we met those concerns by putting that language in there that addresses both of those concerns.”
Gonzalez also touched on a concern of many residents – potential rate increases, “The protection for ratepayers in terms of the rates, all of the local control that we had before still stays in place.”
City Reps. Peter Svarzbein, Alexsandra Annello, Isabel Salcido, and Claudia Ordaz-Perez against the deal.
City Rep. Cassandra Hernandez asked the City and EPE to host public hearings next month.
“We are required under our code to have several public hearings prior to the adoption of an ordinance for the franchise agreement. That is not finalized,” El Paso City Attorney Karla Nieman shared.
The City was one of several parties that needed to sign off on the sale. The Public Utility Commission now has to approve all of this. EPE CEO said the company hopes to close the deal in the first half of 2020.
Council started off Tuesday’s meeting returning back to the executive session from Monday’s work session. Between both days, City Council discussed the proposed EPE sale to IIF, the investment group tied to JP Morgan, for about 12 hours.
During its regular meeting, dozens of community members spoke during public comment over the matter.
Residents also spoke on behalf of the City’s proposal to obtain cost estimates on a feasibility study for the municipalization of EPE.
As KTSM has reported, constituents have been asking the City to conduct a feasibility study which is an in-depth analysis of the proposal.
After back and forth discussions, Council unanimously voted to approve looking into feasibility study costs, however, there was no timeline determined.
Council postponed Tuesday’s regular meeting to reconvene Wednesday at 8 a.m.
