MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The decision facing MLGW about whether to buy our electricity from a source besides the Tennessee Valley Authority is the biggest decision Memphis and its publicly owned utility have ever faced.
The potential savings are estimated at anywhere from $150-450 million. We're finally at the bidding process in all of this and MLGW is keeping it all secret. All MLGW will say is it has 27 bids.
We're told at some point, MLGW CEO J.T. Young will emerge from his office, pronounce a winner and the MLGW board will follow in lockstep.
It was encouraging to see on Tuesday that three city councilmembers — Cheyenne Johnson, JB Smiley Jr. and Jeff Warren — sent a letter to Mayor Jim Strickland asking that he have an independent consulting firm be involved in the process.
I'm all for it. A decision like this is complicated and bidders are entitled to keep some proprietary information in the dark. But if the public can't have any access, Strickland should have experts who know what they're doing making sure that it's done right.
The MLGW C-suite has made it pretty clear by their foot-dragging over the past four years they won't choose any other path than to stay with the TVA. If that's the best path, so be it. But secrecy is not the way to win over a skeptical public unsure if our utility really has our best interests at heart.
I always love to hear what you think. Join the conversation by email (rransom@abc24.com), or my Facebook and Twitter pages.