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Gulf Power
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryUtilities
Founded1925
Defunct2022
FateAbsorbed intoFlorida Power & Light
HeadquartersPensacola, Florida,USA
Key people
Marlene Santos (President)[1]
Number of employees
1,270
ParentNextEra Energy
Websitewww.fpl.com

Gulf Power Company(GPC) was aU.S.electric utility founded in 1925 and headquartered inPensacola, Florida.It had over 450,000 customers in 10 counties and 71 towns in northwest Florida, and a generating capacity of 2.278 GW.[2]

GPC was founded in 1925, and was acquired by Juno Beach-basedNextEra Energy(the parent company ofFlorida Power & Light) in 2019.[3]In 2021 GPC was legally merged into Florida Power & Light. NextEra has stated it will operate GPC as a separate company within FPL through 2021.[4]In early 2022 it was absorbed into FPL as its Northwest Florida division.[5]

Overview

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Gulf Power Company was headquartered inPensacola, Florida,[6]and has a service territory that spans 7,550 square miles (19,600 km2) in 10 counties and 71 towns in northwest Florida. Gulf Power had approximately 465,000 customers in Florida.[2]

Gulf Power Company owned 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of transmission lines and 7,636 miles (12,289 km) of distribution lines (1,748 underground) that stretch from the western Alabama border to theApalachicola Riverand from the northern Alabama border to theGulf of Mexico.[7]Gulf Power served 394,772 retail customers directly and another 14,128 customers through the wholesale delivery of electricity to one investor-owned electric utility and one municipality.

History

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  • Feb. 10, 1925– Southeastern Power and Light Company – a holding company which operates electric, gas, and street railway systems in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi – purchases the Pensacola Electric Company.
  • Oct. 29, 1925– Gulf Power Company is organized as a Southeastern subsidiary.
  • Feb. 6, 1926– Gulf Power Company acquired the Chipley Light and Power Company and becomes a true operating public utility.
  • Late 1926– The Pensacola Electric Company merges into Gulf Power after being rescued from receivership by the holding company. Electricity during this period was very unreliable and erratic, and came from about 20 scattered and individually operating units. These generators were designed to supply power to ice plants, lumber yards and electric transit systems. In spite of northwest Florida’s poor economic state, Gulf Power had no choice but to modernize its equipment in order to continue operating.
  • Sept. 6, 1926– TheGreat Miami Hurricanehits Florida with 120 mph (190 km/h) winds and nine-foot storm surges, destroying nearly 4,000 rotting power poles and extinguishing fires in the old downtown Pensacola generating plant. As a result, more than 600 employees from sister companies work to restore service and install a more modern system. They restore power to the region in record time – within 65 days.
  • Late 1926– A 110,000 volt transmission line is built from the northern Alabama/Florida border toPensacola, Florida– causing the oldAllis-Chalmerssteam turbine-generator to be placed on standby and therefore ending the era of local power generation. Gulf Power relies on imported energy for the next 39 years, even with an additional 7,366 customers inherited in 1926, and another 40,000 customers afterWorld War IIin the mid 1940s.
  • 1945– Gulf Power takes the first step toward producing its own electricity by building a 22,000 kW generating unit at the Crist Steam Plant in Pensacola, Florida, to help supply power after years of outages due to war shortages.
  • 2018–NextEra Energyannounces it will acquire Gulf Power fromSouthern Company.[8]The acquisition was completed inJan. 2019.[3]
  • Jan. 1, 2021– Gulf Power legally merged intoFlorida Power & Light.NextEra Energywill operate GPC as a separate division within FPL through 2021.[4]

Generating facilities

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Fossil fuel power plants

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Plant Nearest City Units Total Capacity
James F. Crist Electric Generating Plant Pensacola, Florida 4 930,000 kW
Gulf Power also owns a percentage of the following generating units[9]
Plant Nearest City Ownership Percentage Total Capacity
Victor J. Daniel Electric Generating Plant(Plant Daniel) Escatawpa, Mississippi 506,500 kW (50%) 2,000,000 kW
Robert W. Scherer Steam-Electric Generating Plant(Plant Scherer) Juliette, Georgia 210,900 kW (25%) 3,272,000 kW
Commercial generation Pea Ridge Pea Ridge, Florida 15,000 kW

Community

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Gulf Power Company was the largest single taxpayer in northwest Florida. The company’s city, county, state and federal taxes totaled $132.4 million for 2007 – amounting to 10.5 cents out of every dollar earned by the company or $311 per customer. In 2007, the company supported local agencies, chambers of commerce, economic development groups and theUnited Wayas well as other charitable organizations with nearly $1.2 million. Gulf Power employees also contributed more than $80,000 to various philanthropies in northwest Florida.[10]

Environment & Conservation

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As of 2011, Gulf Power had reduced its overall plant emissions by 85 percent since 1992, while adding 135,000 customers over that time period.[10]

See also

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List of power stations in Florida

References

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  1. ^"FPL Northwest Region | My Account".
  2. ^ab"Our Company".Gulf Power.RetrievedSeptember 5,2021.
  3. ^ab"NextEra Energy completes acquisition of Gulf Power from Southern Company".RetrievedSeptember 5,2021.
  4. ^ab"FPL reaches comprehensive four-year rate settlement agreement".Florida Power & Light Company.RetrievedSeptember 5,2021.
  5. ^FPL Northwest Division
  6. ^"FPL Northwest Region | My Account".
  7. ^"FPL Northwest Region | My Account".
  8. ^"FPL parent to buy gulf power".
  9. ^"FPL Northwest Region | My Account".
  10. ^ab"Gulf Power | My Account"(PDF).
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