Our smart investments lower costs and deliver reliable power for a resilient future.
As an integral part of the Tampa Bay region for over 125 years, Tampa Electric is invested in powering a bright future. Although much has changed in that time, our commitment to value is steadfast. Our strategic investments and sound business practices help keep our rates among the lowest in Florida and below the national average. We’re working smart to provide value for our customers while delivering the service they depend on to energize their lives.- Strengthening our grid against severe weather
- Leveraging smart technology to decrease outages and restoration costs
- Including solar energy in our electric-generation strategy
- Helping customers save energy and money with nearly 30 energy-saving programs
- Reducing fuel and operating costs through power plant optimization
- Generating and storing electricity from the sun to save customers millions in annual fuel costs
- Promoting economic health and innovation
- Investing in education and workforce development
- Protecting the environment we share
We’re investing in a reliable and resilient grid for a bright future.
We’re continually enhancing our infrastructure, technology and response capabilities to keep power flowing in blue skies and gray. This is especially important in Florida, a hot spot for severe weather.
Since 2021, our system improvements have increased our service reliability by more than 30 percent, reduced power outage frequency by more than 23 percent and shortened outage duration by almost 32 percent.
Storm Protection Plan
Through our Storm Protection Plan, we’re enhancing the reliability of our grid against severe weather. This includes moving power lines underground for improved reliability and faster restoration following storm-related outages. We’re also reinforcing the above-ground portions of the grid by installing stronger, more storm-resistant poles and upgrading technology.
Additionally, we’ve increased inspections of overhead lines and strengthened vegetation management to reduce tree-related outages. To further protect our infrastructure, we’re raising equipment and building floodwalls where necessary.
Smart technology
By leveraging smart technology, we’re decreasing power outages and reducing restoration costs.
We’re installing self-healing technology, which automatically identifies problems impacting power lines and reroutes electricity around them, much like GPS systems reroute traffic around accidents. This technology means fewer customers experience a power outage when power lines are impacted by issues like lightning strikes, surges and objects making contact. Self-healing technology also shortens restoration time for those who experience an outage.
Our investment in smart technology also includes the installation of smart meters, which offer advanced features to improve how we manage electricity. These meters allow us to start, stop and transfer electric service remotely without needing to send someone to the location. They also automatically collect energy usage data in real time, eliminating the need for on-site meter readings and helping us better understand how electricity is being used.
One key benefit of smart meters is their ability to help us respond quickly to power outages. They provide precise information about where outages are happening, which speeds up the restoration process—especially important after a storm.
In addition to smart meters, we're also using solar-powered streetlights that continue to work during power outages and extreme weather. These streetlights provide reliable lighting, helping keep our community safe and visible even when the power goes out.
Solar energy for reliability
Solar energy enhances our resilience and reliability by serving as an additional source of fuel for generating electricity. It’s an important part of our energy mix to serve our growing region’s increasing energy needs. While solar power can only be generated on sunny days, we maximize its benefits by storing it for use in periods of higher electric demand and when the sun isn’t shining.
As we take the important strategic actions necessary to support our customers’ growing needs, we’re maintaining close control of costs to keep bills as low as possible.
To keep bills as low as possible, we offer more energy-saving programs than any other utility in Florida.
For example, we provide nearly 30 energy-saving programs to help customers manage their energy usage-saving time and money with:
- Time-of-day and interruptible-energy programs like Energy Planner and Prime Time Plus
- Free online and in-person energy audits at homes and businesses
- Rebates on select energy-efficient equipment
- Energy-saving tips and simple actions to reduce energy usage
For a comprehensive view of our available programs, tips and resources, visit residential energy-saving programs and business energy-saving programs.
You may also browse our blog posts for timely tips on energy savings in hot, cold or any weather.
Power plant optimization
Since 2000, our power plant investments have reduced our fuel consumption by more than 50%, lowering customers’ fuel costs. We’re working to keep bills as low as possible by upgrading our power plant equipment and technology.
Our Big Bend Power Station is one example of our efforts to become more fuel-efficient. We converted Big Bend’s Unit 1 to state-of-the-art combined-cycle technology, which helps us generate affordable and reliable power with less water, wastewater and air emissions than ever. Big Bend Unit 1 is Tampa Electric’s most efficient generator and is one of the most efficient of its kind in the nation. Modernization at our Big Bend Power Station will save customers more than $700 million.
We’re also modifying the turbine at our Bayside Power Station to reduce start-up time, allowing for faster response when energy demand is high and to supplement solar energy during cloud cover or darkness.
Solar energy for savings
Since 2017, our solar energy investments have saved customers hundreds of millions in avoided fuel costs.
We’re harnessing the sun’s energy and investing in solar projects to reduce the amount of natural gas we must purchase to generate electricity. This insulates customers from fluctuating natural gas prices. Compared to natural gas, the cost of solar power is relatively stable.
Today, we can produce 1,350 megawatts (MW) of electricity from the sun, and we plan to add another 372 MW by the end of 2026. At that time, nearly 17% of the energy we generate will come from the sun—that’s equivalent to powering about 260,000 homes.
The sun provides cost-effective energy for our system, but its output varies during the day, and solar energy isn’t generated at night. To further reduce fuel costs and maximize the solar energy we generate, we’re investing in solutions to store that energy for use at night and in periods of higher electric demand.
In fact, we’re adding more than 115 MW of energy storage capacity, which would be enough to power about 18,000 homes. Storing energy extends its value and can delay the need to invest in new power plants.
The Tampa Bay region is our home, and we're proud to support the people and communities we serve.
We provide digital resources that allow customers to engage with us in convenient ways that add value to their experience. And we’re helping our region to thrive with programs and partnerships that assist our customers, our region and our shared environment.
Customer tools and assistance
We deliver value to our customers by providing technology and convenient self-service platforms that save time and make it easier to do business with us. They include:
- Interactive bills with detailed billing and personalized energy-saving tips
- An enhanced outage map and outage notifications
- Expanded payment options
- Customizable communication preferences
- Virtual assistant/chat feature on our website
- A Construction Center for new, temporary and upgrade electric service requests
We want to help our customers who are facing hardships, and we have a dedicated customer assistance team ready to help. We also partner with many community agencies to connect qualified customers to household and utility bill assistance.
In addition, we help qualified residential customers who are struggling with past-due energy bills through TECO’s Share program. In addition to funds provided by TECO, which are paid by shareholders and do not affect customer bills, Share is funded by the generosity of our own employees, customers and community partners. Tampa Electric matches every contribution dollar-for-dollar, up to $500,000 a year. In 2025, we donated $1 million to Share to help our customers in need.
Protecting the environment we share
Our investments benefit customers and the environment we share today and with future generations. In fact, while energy demand has increased by 18% since 2000, we’ve reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 56%, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 97% and sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions by 99%.
We’re also proud to lead the way in conservation and environmental innovation at our Florida Conservation and Technology Center (FCTC), a 500-acre hub near our Big Bend Power Station. There, we provide a network of key partners with the space they need to research, protect and educate about Florida’s unique wildlife and ecosystems. Features include Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center and Tom Hernandez Clean Energy Center and initiatives by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, The Florida Aquarium and more.
Education and workforce development
We're passionate about supporting the next generation of leaders with a solid career foundation. That's why we invest in education initiatives and partner with local schools and non-profit organizations like Junior Achievement, Future Career Academy and more.
We also support innovative workforce development initiatives that help our region and our local business community to thrive. Our workforce development partners include the University of South Florida, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa Bay Economic Prosperity Foundation, the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce and many more.
We’re especially proud to support Hillsborough Community College's Electrical Line Worker Training program, which gives students the knowledge and skills they need for careers as line workers. Tampa Electric provides scholarships, mentoring and equipment for the program.
