Monday, January 28, 2013
Work will begin Jan. 28 and include Riverview and Brandon area.
Area residents need not be alarmed if they see low-flying helicopters hovering around Tampa Electric transmission poles and towers in the next month. It’s part of the company’s ongoing inspection of transmission equipment. Work will begin at 8 a.m. Jan. 28 and continue for about 30 days during daylight hours. Crews will survey about 5,200 transmission structures, approximately 23 percent of the system. A low-flying helicopter will hover for a short time about 150 to 300 feet above the ground near each structure. These inspections are expected to be completed by Feb. 27, weather permitting. The inspections are taking place along Tampa Electric’s urban and rural rights of way. Some inspections will take place within view of area roads and …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Find out how to be more energy efficient at home.
With 2012 over, make a New Year’s resolution to save energy and money in 2013. Tampa Electric can help. To get 2013 off to a good, energy-efficient start, resolve to: Tampa Electric offers about 40 energy-saving programs to residential and commercial customers – more programs than any other investor-owned utility in Florida. Learn more about Tampa Electric’s energy-saving programs online at tampaelectric.com/save. Let the energy experts at Tampa Electric show you how to save energy and money with a free Home Energy Audit. Contact the company to schedule one of its trained energy analysts to inspect your home and identify areas where you can save valuable energy. Customers who are willing to make minor behavioral changes and follow the …
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Consider investing in energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) lights.
As folks deck the halls in coming weeks, Tampa Electric would like to offer a few handy tips for a safer, more energy-efficient holiday season. Consider investing in energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) lights. LED lights have dropped in price in recent years and are now available in more colors and styles. LEDs do not produce heat, so they reduce the risk of a fire and are safer than incandescent lights. They are also more durable. Tampa Electric offers these additional tips for your home during the holidays: For additional safety tips, visit www.tampaelectric.com/safety. Holiday Decorating Contest Once you have your lights and decorations up, consider taking a photo and entering it in the Patch Deck the House Contest. Finalists …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
The Florida Public Service Commission approved TECO's request to drop rates.
Tampa Electric customers will see lower bills in January because of lower costs for natural gas – the fifth consecutive reduction in fuel costs in the past four years. The Florida Public Service Commission yesterday approved the company’s request as filed. Beginning in January, a residential customer’s monthly bill will drop by $4.32, to $102.58 for 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), a 4 percent drop from the current $106.90 a month. Commercial customers will see bills drop by nearly 5 percent; industrial customers will remain flat. This reduction will bring Tampa Electric residential customers’ bills to about 14 percent below the national average – which is $119 per month, according to May 2012 data from the Energy Information Administration. “…
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Residents can watch manatees frolic in the warm waters next to the Big Bend Power Plant.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- D'Ann White
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Thursday, November 1, 2012
The cooler temperatures marking the return of fall is once again luring manatees back to the warm-water discharge from Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station in Apollo Beach. That's good news for manatee lovers who can watch the friendly ocean dwellers in action at TECO's award-winning Manatee Viewing Center. Located next to the power plant, the viewing center opens today for the 2012-13 season. And visitors will find several new features. “Visitors love learning about the endangered manatees, and they love this unique nature-watching destination,” said Stanley Kroh, manager of land and water programs at Tampa Electric. “These new improvements have made this destination even better.” When the water temperature of Tampa Bay is 68 degrees …
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Tampa Electric will partner with the Florida Aquarium and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to create a unique park.
The Florida Aquarium, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Tampa Electric announced a partnership today to create a Florida conservation and technology park. The park, which will be built near Tampa Electric’s existing Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach, will serve as a nexus for recreation, learning and conservation as well as research and technology. Admission and parking will be free. “It is an honor to be a part of this amazing project," said Thom Stork, president and CEO of The Florida Aquarium. “This innovative park will not only assist us in the day-to-day operations of the aquarium but will help expand our marine life education, rescue and research footprint throughout our community and the state.” In …
Saturday, September 1, 2012
TECO has filed a request to drop the cost of electricity by 4 percent.
Tampa Electric customers could see lower bills beginning in January. The cost savings is due primarily to lower costs for natural gas – the fifth consecutive reduction in fuel costs in the past four years. On Aug. 31, the company filed projected costs for fuel and other clauses with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC). If the PSC approves the request as filed, a residential customer’s monthly bill would drop $4.32 to $102.58 for 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), a 4 percent drop from the current $106.90 a month. Commercial customers would see bills drop by nearly 5 percent; industrial customers would remain flat. “In these challenging economic times, we are pleased to continue to maintain low, stable bills while providing outstanding …
Thursday, June 28, 2012
A power outage struck more than 3,300 TECO customers in the Valrico and Riverview areas late Thursday afternoon.
The power went out for more than 3,300 TECO customers in the Valrico and Riverview areas late Thursday afternoon. About half of those customers in the Bell Shoals area had their power restored by 6 p.m., said TECO spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs, and the rest were expected to regain power soon. A look at the energy company's real-time outage map at 6:30 p.m. showed 268 homes in the area still without power. A substation fire was the likely cause, Jacobs said. Earlier Thursday, another 1,400 customers in the Providence Road area in Brandon were without power. The cause was a bad underground cable, according to Jacobs.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Thousands of customers were without power.
Power was restored on Tuesday night to all Tampa Electric customers who were affected by Tropical Storm Debby, officials said today. About 20,000 customers had lost power since Debby hit Tampa Bay on Sunday, said Cherie Jacobs, a spokeswoman for Tampa Electric. Jacobs said customers without power were patient during the storm, the severity of which caused roadblocks for crews trying to restore power. "One of the challenges our crew had with Debby was the volume of small, scattered outages," Jacobs said. "When there's scattered outages like this storm, it's a challenge for our crews because it's more time-consuming. Some areas are difficult to access because of standing water." About 350 Tampa Electric employees and contractors worked to …
Friday, April 13, 2012
Tampa Electric held an open house Thursday evening in FishHawk Ranch to explain its proposed power line and substation expansion, and take comments from residents.
At an open house meeting Thursday night about proposed power lines, Tampa Electric's message to FishHawk Ranch and Channing Park residents was, we're here to listen. The residents' message to TECO? Not in our backyard. Since mailing notices to households in the area on April 2, TECO has faced growing opposition to its proposed plans to build a 40 mile high-voltage power line that would stretch from TECO's Polk Power Station in southwestern Polk County, run through FishHawk Ranch and Channing Park, and terminate at the company's FishHawk Substation. The project also proposes building a new substation near Balm-Boyette Road and Aspen Avenue, and expanding the Polk Power Station. Several TECO representatives set up shop in a meeting room …
David Hardingham
9:11 pm on Saturday, September 1, 2012
Teco been lower in price thanks to the EPA suing them during the start of the first term of Bush Jr. and Teco settled with them by agreeing to modernizing the 1940 grade filthy plant that made south Hillsborough a wasteland of smog haze and a find blackish gray film on everything. After the plant was upgraded to modern pollution standards it also turned out to be much more efficient so beside the… more ›