Utilities

The sheer heft of FPL Group (Public No. 3) — it provides power to 4.5 million Florida customers — makes it and its CEO, Lew Hay, influential in the state and a key player in arenas like alternative energy. Hay preferred a tax on carbon to a cap-and-trade system but has supported the latter as a more likely political reality. In October, Hay and FPL, based in Jupiter, hosted President Obama for a tour of a 25-megawatt solar generating array in Arcadia. The utility is building a 75-megawatt solar thermal hybrid plant that integrates solar power with natural gas; it also purchases power from a number of biomass power facilities.

» TECO Energy (Public No. 20), a regional player in the Tampa Bay area under CEO Sherrill Hudson, encompasses Tampa Electric, People’s Gas, a coal-mining firm and a generating company in Guatemala. TECO has made big investments in energy efficiency and reducing its carbon emissions. The utility also joined a voluntary carbon-credit trading market, scoring points with regulators and gaining experience in the kind of commerce that could emerge in a cap-and-trade world.

Sherill Hudson, TECO Energy

OUT-OF-STATE FIRMS: Progress Energy Florida, a division of North Carolina-based Progress Energy Corp., serves about 1.5 million Florida customers. Vinnie Dolan was named Florida president last year, filling a role in the company and community previously held by Jeff Lyash.

» Gulf Power, a division of Alabama-based Southern Co., provides power to more than 428,000 in northwest Florida. President and CEO Susan Story is heavily involved in both local and statewide business affairs. — Mark Howard