![Big Bend Power Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Big_Bend_Power_Station.jpg)
TECO Energy Inc. is an energy-related holding company based in
Tampa,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, and a subsidiary of
Emera Incorporated. TECO Energy has several subsidiaries: Tampa Electric Company, which provides electricity to the
Tampa Bay Area
The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the Unite ...
and parts of
Central Florida
Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...
; Peoples Gas Company, which provides natural gas throughout Florida; and TECO Services, which provides IT, HR, legal, facilities, and other services to current and former TECO subsidiaries.
History
Tampa Electric began in 1899 to manage electric trolley systems in the city of Tampa. On September 4, 2015,
Emera
Emera Incorporated is a publicly traded Canadian multinational energy holding company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Created in 1998 during the privatization of Nova Scotia Power, a provincial Crown corporation, Emera now invests in regulated ele ...
, a utility holding company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, announced the pending acquisition of TECO Energy. That purchase closed on July 1, 2016, and TECO Energy, Inc. is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Emera, Inc.
Environmental record
On July 6, 2019 People’s Gas a Division of Tampa Electric Company, caused an explosion of a shopping center in Plantation, Florida known as the Market on University because People’s Gas failed to close and lock a gas line after a customer request dating back to December 2018. The failure to close and lock the gas line is a violation of Federal law and Florida law. Peoples/TECO claims that a computer program cancelled the shutoff order unbeknownst to the utility. TECO/Peoples hid the claimed computer error from state investigators. The computer error caused hundreds of gas line shutoff orders to be cancelled system wide. TECO/Peoples also blame the owner of the shopping center for not capping the gas line when the tenant removed a gas pizza oven. Over 60 lawsuits were filed in response to the explosion many of which remain pending.
In 2017, TECO had an explosion at its Big Bend power plant near Tampa, Florida killing 5 workers who were performing a dangerous procedure water jetting molten slag in a coal fired furnace. The workers were killed because an explosion occurred. TECO experienced the same type of accident 10 years prior and developed a policy to prevent future accidents but failed to train workers on the safety policy. In May 2022, TECO pleaded guilty to violating an OSHA safety regulation requiring a meeting to ensure workers are properly trained that would have prevented the deaths of the 5 workers. In August 2022 TECO was sentenced to a $500,000 fine and 3 years of probation. TECO admitted that it willfully violated an OSHA safety regulation as part of its guilty plea.
In 2000, TECO Energy was fined $3.5 million for making changes to emissions producing facilities without installing new updated
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
controls. This led to the switch from
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
to
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
in one of its plants by 2004 and optimization of
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
controls in another. These changes were enacted to drastically cut
emissions
Emission may refer to:
Chemical products
* Emission of air pollutants, notably:
**Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue
** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion
** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...
, notably
sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxide emissions.
TECO Energy completed a $330 million emissions control project in 2010, which made its Big Bend Power Station one of the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the nation. The renovation reduced
nitrogen oxide emissions at the plant by approximately 91 percent from levels recorded in 1998.
Since 1998, TECO has invested $1.2 billion in improvements to the company's systems, including the re-powering of the previously coal-fired Bayside Power Station to
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
and the addition of
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
controls on a second, reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 91 percent and carbon dioxide levels by 20 percent from 1998 levels.
On September 28, 2017, TECO announced it was adding 600 MW of solar to its electricity-producing portfolio.
See also
*
List of power stations in Florida
*
TECO Line Streetcar
The TECO Line Streetcar is a heritage streetcar transit line in Tampa, Florida, run by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transportation Authority (HART), owned by the city of Tampa, and managed by Tampa Historic Streetcar, Inc. It connects Downtown ...
*''
Tampa Electric Co. v. Nashville Coal Co.
''Tampa Electric Co. v. Nashville Coal Co.'', 365 U.S. 320 (1961), the ''Tampa Electric case'', was a 1961 decision of the Supreme Court that, together with '' United States v. Philadelphia National Bank'', clarified the legal test for determining ...
''
References
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-power-company-sentenced-worker-death-case
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teco Energy
2016 mergers and acquisitions
Electric power companies of the United States
Companies based in Tampa, Florida
1899 establishments in Florida
Emera