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After more than two hours of discussion, a proposal to study the feasibility of alternatives for power providers for the City of Fresno ended in a divided decision to table the item until December.

Councilmembers Esmeralda Soria, Mike Karbassi, Miguel Arias and Council President Nelson Esparza all voted to push the item until the administration comes up with a more specific request for proposal. The proposal was sponsored by Councilmembers Tyler Maxwell, Garry Bredefeld and Mayor Jerry Dyer.

Arias — who first recommended tabling the item — complained that the language of the proposal was nothing more than a run-on sentence.

“Don’t bring forward a proposal that is one sentence long that has the most implications we’ve seen in a local government in a generation,” Arias said.

For their part, City Manager Georgeanne White said the proposal was intended to be broad in nature to consider all options available.

“A ‘yes’ vote is not a commitment to any one plan,” said Bredefeld.

The proposal comes as members of the Building Industry Association were informed by PG&E that they have furloughed contractors who would electrify subdivisions. Work to get communities connected to power could take as much as 150 days.

Building Industry Association president Mike Prandini said there are at least 400 homes in Fresno and Madera counties that are waiting to be connected. The Federal Reserve yesterday acted to increase its short-term lending rate, which could mean another increase in long-term mortgage rates. The delay for homeowners could mean an expiration of their mortgage terms, resulting in a new interest rate.

Dyer said the problem goes beyond just housing.

Dyer said power and gas rates have increased 80% over 10 years. Rates increased 22% this year and are projected to increase 18% in 2023.

“If we came forth with a 40% rate increase in our utilities, whether water, sewer or solid waste, there would be 5,000 people protesting at City Hall,” Dyer said.

Turning electrical infrastructure to municipal control wasn’t the only option on the table.

Councilmember Luis Chavez three years ago proposed action in exploring community-choice aggregation. Esparza supported that option but said municipal control was not possible without severe upfront costs.

Under a community choice aggregation plan, jurisdictions buy power and sell it consumers.

The franchise contract between the City and PG&E is only six pages long and dates to 1938. It has no expiration. Most agreements nowadays are upwards of 30 pages with options for dissatisfied service.

Arias asked a slew of questions about the practicality of the issue, ranging from whether eminent domain was on the table to whether other jurisdictions such as State Center Community College District or Fresno County would provide financial support for the study. Representatives from both agencies were present at Monday’s press conference introducing the item.

White said those questions are premature.

Assistant Business Manager Hunter Stern for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spoke during the public comment period. Many members of the IBEW work for PG&E, with more than a thousand people in the Central Valley who have PG&E contracts. He said they oppose any change in service providers as members would lose work, pensions and benefits.

Maxwell, Chavez and Bredefeld said if City Council did not approve the administration putting out requests for a study, the money to do so would come out of their budgets.