Lance Haver, the city's consumer affairs director, had envisioned the agency as a cooperative, buying power on behalf of customers, but that language was removed from the bill.
"It will not put the city in the business of buying or selling energy to consumers," Haver said.
But he said the authority could help develop innovative projects, such as systems to generate power from the methane released by the Water Department's treatment facilities, or set up solar generating stations to power city government facilities.
"It will put the city in the forefront of a new era in energy," Haver said. "Five years from now, other cities will be looking at what Pennsylvania is doing now and saying, 'We should be doing this.' "
Peco, which serves Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs, had requested a delay in the vote, objecting that the bill appeared to allow the city to develop power-generation projects in conflict with state law.
But Clarke said the authority "cannot sell to anyone but the city itself." And Chief Deputy City Solicitor J. Barry Davis said state law clearly prohibited the city from competing with other energy suppliers.
The legislation was a response to the coming deregulation in Peco's territory. At the end of the year, caps that have kept electric rates at 1996 levels will come off, and Peco's 1.6 million customers will be free to choose a new supplier of electricity from a wider variety of providers.
For most residential customers, the change may not be so dramatic. Peco's wires will still carry electricity to all the region's Pennsylvania customers, and Peco will still provide customer service and billing.
