BOULDER - Boulder City Council members are expected to decide tonight whether to move forward with plans to create a municipal power utility.

If a majority of council members vote "yes" on the municipal power utility issue at tonight's meeting, the city government is expected to hire a third-party, independent consultant to review previous analysis of plans, said Sarah Huntley, a city spokeswoman. In addition, a "yes" vote would mean that city staffers would start preparing for condemnation proceedings against Xcel Energy Inc., the current power provider.

At the same time, the Boulder Chamber is recommending that the city ask voters a second time if they support a city-owned and city-run power utility - specifically the need for bonds to help pay to create the utility - before making any final decisions, said John Tayer, Boulder Chamber president and chief executive officer.

Boulder voters in November 2011 narrowly passed two ballot measures - one giving the city an $1.9 million annual budget for five years to study how to create a municipal energy utility, and  the other giving the Boulder City Council the authority to create such a utility under certain conditions.

"We represent a diverse business community, and we understand and support the move toward alternative energy," Tayer said. "It's important that we also balance that with the costs and risks that we have. Given the enormity of this decision, it's appropriate for the public to have a final say."

Tayer said he plans to communicate the same message to the city council this evening.

Huntley said a second community vote recommended by the chamber would be "problematic from a legal perspective." The city council can decide to stop moving forward on municipal power utility plans - a process Huntley called an "off-ramp" - any time between now and when condemnation proceedings might start, she said.

Such condemnation proceedings could start in August, under a timeline put together by the city. After that time, the city may have to pay Xcel Energy's legal fees if it decides to end the municipalization process, Huntley said.

"We need to make sure we as a community want to take this path to achieve our energy goals," Huntley said. "The period between tonight and August will be critical."

The legal charter governing Boulder as a city also puts requirements on the potential municipalization process - mainly financial requirements, Huntley said.

For example, rates charged to customers must be the same or less than Xcel Energy would charge if the city of Boulder creates an independent utility, Huntley said. In addition, the city must show it has debt coverage of 125 percent to pay back the debt on bonds that have not been issued yet, Huntley said. Such bonds would help finance the cost of the new utility.

Other requirements for a city utility include similar or better reliability than that of Xcel Energy, a plan for increasing renewables and a plan for decreasing greenhouse-gas emissions, Huntley said. If the city can't demonstrate that it can meet all five requirements, the municipal utility plan can't go forward, Huntley said.