DATA GAPS 



The greatest data gap in this study of industrial development in North- 

 west Florida is 1980 data that are needed to provide a relatively up-to-date 

 picture of non-agricultural employment characteristics, especially for places 

 like Bay County, which has added a number of new manufacturing plants since 

 1978 (the year of the most recent available data). When the 1980 data are 

 available, the study should be updated to verify the interpretation of trends 

 and to make comparisons with other 1980 census information. A new set of pro- 

 jected trends for the counties will have to be developed after the 1980 data 

 become available. 



PUBLIC UTILITIES 



Population growth and industrial development are partially dependent on 

 the availability and capacity of public utilities. Because OCS oil and gas 

 recovery would place additional demands on public utilities, it is particu- 

 larly important to understand the type, distribution, and magnitude of ser- 

 vices available in Northwest Florida. 



INVENTORY OF UTILITIES 



This section briefly reviews the status of electrical power, gas, and 

 telephone services. 



Electrical Power 



Electricity is provided to users in Florida from a variety of sources 

 through a complex interchangeable grid of distribution. The different sources 

 and ownerships are shown in Figure 6. The service areas of the two privately 

 owned utility companies serving the seven county region are also shown. The 

 Gulf Power Company serves Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Walton 

 Counties, plus a few counties outside of the region. This private utility is 

 headquartered in Pensacola. It operates a hydroelectric steam generation 

 plant and an internal combustion or gas turbine plant in Bay County. 



Franklin and Gulf Counties are served by the Florida Power Corporation. 

 This power company serves a large area of northwest and central Florida, 

 stretching from Franklin County to Highlands County (in south-central 

 Florida). Company headquarters are in St. Petersburg. It operates many 

 plants within its service area, but the only one in Northwest Florida is an 

 internal combusion or gas turbine plant in Franklin County. 



There are no publicly owned power companies in the seven county region, 

 but there are five rural electric cooperatives (Figure 7). One is the Alabama 

 Electric Cooperative, Inc., Andalusia, AL, that serves only a small portion of 

 northwestern Okaloosa County. A second is the Escambia River Electric Cooper- 

 ative, Inc., located in Wewahitcha. Its service area extends over Bay County, 

 part of Gulf County, and parts of a few other counties outside the region. 

 Talquin Electric Cooperative, Inc., which is headquartered in Quincy (near 

 Tallahassee), serves part of Gulf County, all of Franklin County, and four 

 other counties outside the region. All of these cooperatives are nongen- 

 erating. 



87 



