Changes could be coming to your electric bill as part of Tampa Electric’s new effort to go green. Thursday, TECO announced upgrades to the Big Bend Power Station.
As part of their commitment to clean energy, the company is converting its coal-fired Unit 1 to natural gas and they are retiring their other coal-fired Unit 2 in 2021. Unit 2 is the same place where five people died June 29 after an accidental explosion during a maintenance procedure.
TECO spokesperson Cherie Jacobs says Unit 2 closing is in no way connected to the June accident.
“While safety is our number one priority and influences everything we do, these plans have been in the works for more than a year,” she said.
Jacobs says the modernization project will make the Tampa-based utility serving more than 750,000 customers cleaner, greener and will save customers money.
“The air emissions and the amount of coal that we’re using at Big Bend will be significantly reduced, which means less truck traffic, less train traffic, less coal by-products that will be onsite,” Jacobs said.
The cost of the project is $853 million, which TECO says it’ll pay for it up front, but you may end up paying for it later.
The electric company says once the project is complete, it will seek reimbursement from customers through a rate case in five years. We’re told there is no estimate for how high your bill could increase.
The modernization project is one of several ways the company is trying to be more energy efficient.
“This is a significant project for us,” Jacobs said. “In addition to that, in recent months we’ve announced 600 megawatts of solar power. Those two in combination will make Tampa Electric significantly cleaner and greener than we are today.”
In addition to going green, the company says the project is more cost efficient to change the technology of the plant than to continue to run it as a coal-burning plant.
TECO says the change will not impact the manatees who come to the area to get warm water during the winter.
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