The Tampa Electric Company serves Hillsborough County and the immediate 

 areas east and northeast. The Big Bend plant, which is one of the three 

 plants located in Hillsborough County, has three fossil steam units and three 

 light oil combustion turbine units (Table 16). The Gannon facility has four 

 heavy oil steam units, two coal steam units, and one light oil combusion 

 turbine unit. The Hookers Point facility has five heavy oil steam units. 



The only publicly-owned electric utility in Southwest Florida is a non- 

 generating utility at Key West. 



Four rural nongenerating electric cooperatives serve portions of South- 

 west Florida. The Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, located in Dade 

 City (Pasco County), covers Pasco County, Pinellas County, and part of Hills- 

 borough County. The Peace River Electric Cooperative, headquartered in 

 Wauchula (located outside the region), distributes electricity to Sarasota 

 County, Manatee County, and the remainder of Hillsborough County. The Lee 

 County Electric Cooperative, located in North Fort Myers, has a divided 

 service area. It supplies parts of Lee County, part of Charlotte County, and 

 most of Collier County. Most of the eastern Keys are serviced by the Florida 

 Keys Electric Cooperative, located in Tavernier. 



The electric utility companies serving Southwest Florida operate within a 

 broad interstate network. Few areas in Florida are self-sufficient in elec- 

 trical power, and the network ensures power during all levels of demand. 

 Information about major interconnections for bulk power transactions is given 

 in Table 17. 



In Florida, fuel types and their percent contribution for power gener- 

 ation are fuel oil - 48%, coal - 19.5%, nuclear - 16.4%, natural gas - 16.1%, 

 and an insignificant amount of hydropower. All of the oil and coal used in 

 Florida for energy generation is imported from other places, except for a 

 relatively small amount produced in Northwest Florida. 



The percent consumption of electricity by different consumers reported 

 for Florida in 1980 shows that most of the power was used by residential 

 users, followed by commercial and industrial users, in that order (Table 18). 



Net generation of power for Florida in 1979 was about three times greater 

 than it was in 1965 (Table 19). The percentages of generation by fuel type 

 have changed considerably. The biggest change was in nuclear fuel. None was 

 used in 1972 but by 1980, it contributed 16% of the State total. Fuel oil is 

 the major fuel type, but its contribution declined from 52% in 1965 to 45% in 

 1979. The greatest increase in the use of coal as a fuel was in 1978-79, an 

 increase that is likely to persist through the 1980' s. More than twice as 

 much power was generated by gas in 1979 than in 1965, but its contribution to 

 total power declined from 25% to 16%. Hydro-electric power plants contribute 

 little to the electric energy supply. 



In general, the private utility companies serving Southwest Florida have 

 a different pattern of distribution for users than do the electrical coopera- 

 tives. Private utilities largely serve the commercial and industrial areas, 

 whereas most cooperatives serve residential areas. 



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