Economic Development
Powering our Communities through Economic Development
TECO Energy companies support attracting new businesses while maintaining and expanding services to our existing customers.
TECO Energy's impact on the communities we serve is highlighted by our economic development activities. Not only do the companies of TECO Energy provide electric and gas service, but they also create and sustain jobs and encourage the development of local businesses. We stay tuned to business growth opportunities by improving and leveraging relationships with businesses, customers and other stakeholders.
We are seeing overall economic conditions improve, but more slowly than we would like. We have set up ourselves to grow by centralizing our approach to advocate for policies and incentives to grow our businesses.
We work closely with governments and business leaders to provide support. We also are active in groups, such as area chambers of commerce, civic organizations, professional associations and leadership organizations. We look for opportunities that may have impact on the community and the company.
TECO Energy is an investor and an active member in Enterprise Florida, the Tampa Bay Partnership, the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation, and many other local and regional economic development organizations.
Three ways TECO Energy supports the development of the regions where it operates:
- Advocating policies and incentives to encourage growth, remove barriers and enhance economic development within the regions we serve or want to serve;
- Working in a proactive and coordinated way to encourage business growth and acquisition of new customers;
- Increasing participation in and visibility of community activities through CommUnity, an outreach platform for team members to find events and log volunteer hours.
Supplier diversity
We are committed to the development of high-quality small businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, service-disabled veterans and Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) program participants – many of which are locally owned and operated, supporting economic development in our region. Our Supplier Diversity program, which guides our current and future partnerships with these businesses, is part of our commitment. Our integrity commits us to a strategy of diversity, fostering community inclusiveness and business development. We know diversity is important and investing in local businesses is good business. We accomplish this by:
- Creating a "level playing field" for qualified firms.
- Creating an internal culture that embraces the business reasons for diversifying our supplier base.
- Leveraging non-minority business partners to use diverse suppliers.
- Extending the economic benefits to the communities in which we live.
"Economic development is a key ingredient to a growing, healthy, sustainable community and that's what we want in all the communities we serve."
– Gordon Gillette, President, Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas System
Gordon Gillette, President of Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas 2012 Chairman of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation
TECO Energy companies support development and enhancement of the regions they serve, attracting new businesses while maintaining and expanding service to our existing customers. Not only do the companies of TECO Energy provide electric, gas and energy services, but they also create and sustain jobs and encourage the development of local businesses. We are staying in tune with business growth opportunities by improving and leveraging our relationships with businesses, customers and other stakeholders. 
Gordon Gillette, president of Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas, is serving as the chairman of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The Tampa Hillsborough EDC is recognized by Enterprise Florida as Hillsborough County's primary economic development team in partnership with cities and private investors.
