City approves partial agreement for sale of El Paso Electric

EL PASO, Texas-- A partial agreement was approved Tuesday by El Paso City Council and the Infrastructure Investments Fund (IIF) in the sale of El Paso Electric.

The city and the investment firm still need to iron out the franchise agreement. That is expected to happen the first week of January 2020.

The vote came down to a tie that was broken by El Paso Mayor Dee Margo. Council members who voted no included Peter Svarzbein, Alexsandra Annello, Claudia-Ordaz Perez, and Isabel Salcido.

As ABC-7 previously reported, council members had directed El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez to look at the cost of a feasibility study for the purchase of El Paso Electric.

The motion was approved unanimously at Tuesday’s city council meeting. This—after council members met in executive session for almost eight hours on Monday to discuss the proposed $4.3 billion sale of El Paso Electric to a J.P. Morgan Chase investment fund.

The potential sale has drawn much criticism.

Those who oppose the sale include groups like Rate 41, which is made up of county commissioners, several school districts and El Paso Community College.

Representatives from Rate 41 say there are not enough benefits from the sale to ratepayers.

Those in favor of the sale include the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, along with the Borderplex Alliance.

El Paso Electric officials say the deal keeps jobs here that could otherwise be lost.