While Guelph councillors voted Wednesday night not to consider a sale of Guelph Hydro, that doesn’t mean everything will stay status quo.

The vote also allowed city staff to continue to look at the option of merging the utility with another hydro company.

The decision came after councillors heard from 10 members of the public, all of whom said they were opposed to pursuing a sale.

“I haven’t seen that many examples of clear public will – not just tonight, but in the feedback all of us councillors had been getting leading up to this meeting,” Gordon said after the meeting.

Gordon was one of eight councillors to vote against considering a sale. Five were on the other side, including Coun. Karl Wettstein.

Wettstein argued that buying another utility wasn’t a realistic option for Guelph Hydro, but the other options – a sale, a merger or maintaining the status quo – needed to be examined at the same time.

“In order to effectively evaluate the other three, you need information on all three,” he said.

A committee tasked with examining all four options had concluded that a sale or merger would likely make Guelph Hydro more efficient and decrease electricity prices for consumers.

With reporting by Tyler Calver