Council chief executive Sandy Graham said staff were preparing a financial model and this would be shared with councillors at a non-public workshop on August 12.
"The model is really important to present to councillors and plug in a whole range of different scenarios to see how things land," Ms Graham said.
"Once we have done that exercise ... we will be in a position to provide advice."
Council staff had previously provided advice about the proposal to sell the company and about public consultation.
Ms Graham said at a council meeting this week the model could help determine next steps, "whether that’s a decision, one way or another, or whether that’s something else".
Cr Carmen Houlahan asked why the workshop was going to be closed to the public, as there had been strong public interest in the issue.
Assumptions would also be made about water, future rates rises and debt, and the council did not yet have formal positions on such matters, she said.
"It may be that we can hold elements of the workshop in public," Ms Graham said.
The plan at this stage was to run a non-public workshop, but some material could be made publicly available afterwards, she said.
Cr Sophie Barker asked when the council would make a decision about selling the company, or not.
There did not appear to be a direct answer, but Ms Graham signalled the August 12 workshop could influence whatever step was taken after that.
A proposal to sell Aurora Energy was pitched to the public in March and a public hearing was held in May.
The vast majority of more than 700 public submissions were against a sale and this was reflected at the hearing.
The arguments presented prompted Dunedin City Holdings Ltd (DCHL) to request more time to consider submissions and provide more content.
Council-owned DCHL had recommended a sale of Aurora, which is part of the DCHL group.
It had been signalled the council could make a decision in June, then July.
DCHL ran a mostly public council workshop on July 1 and this included presentation of reports by consultants.
This is expected to be supplemented by further information from them.
Aurora owns and operates the electricity distribution networks for Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes.
Its total assets are worth more than $800 million.
It was evident from council documentation DCHL expected the company could sell for more than $1 billion.
Selling Aurora would result in the council instead owning a diversified fund worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Income from the proposed fund could be used to repay some council debt or reduce the size of rates increases, the council has signalled.
Many submitters argued the company should be viewed as a utility worth retaining in the long term.
