![]() » Emera’s CEO talks about the company’s plans for newly acquired TECO. “If you can pull all those demographic factors together to give executives a broad and detailed view of what you have to offer when they are looking for a location,” she adds, “your chance of success is exponentially increased.” ![]() “Bringing in a new business to Florida is not just a real estate transaction, it’s really about finding the perfect marriage of a business and a community,” says Stiles. The tool provides specific demographic data and analytics that help communities understand their competitive advantages by comparing themselves to similar communities in other states. ![]() Part of FPL’s website is a business and competitive intelligence tool, which it offers to all economic development entities throughout the state. “We have over 10,000 sites and buildings on what is a very dynamic list that is constantly changing and being updated.” “If you don’t have a way for a company to locate sites and buildings in a state that might house a new business, then you’re off the list before they ever pick up the phone to call you,” says Stiles. In 2013, FPL launched Poweringflorida.Com, which hosts a database for available commercial and industrial properties and buildings in all 67 of Florida’s counties. “We have 62 companies that have taken advantage of that rate,” says Stiles, “and those companies have pledged to add 12,900 new jobs to Florida’s workforce.” It offers declining discounted power rates over a five-year period for growing businesses that commit to creating jobs and expanding investment. Like FPL and Gulf Power, Duke also maintains extensive demographic databases that are made available to local economic development agencies.įPL’s first program was the Economic Development Rate, established in 2011. Gulf Power is working with the University of West Florida and Florida’s Great Northwest - a privately funded economic development agency - on a diversification strategy centered on aerospace industries and manufacturing.ĭuke Energy’s economic development efforts include workforce development initiatives, as well as sustained investment in programs aimed at attracting and retaining businesses within its Florida service territories. In addition to its site certification program for industrial parks, Gulf Power is focusing on industry diversification in its Panhandle service region, which depends heavily on military spending and tourism, says Rick Byars, the company’s lead economic development executive. “So we started doing what we could to help our customers find jobs and find opportunities for their families.” “During that time, our customers were having to choose between paying their power bill and putting food on the table, and that was not a scenario that we took lightly,” says Crystal Stiles, FPL’s economic development director. Most of the efforts began as a political and economic response to the Great Recession, as the utilities looked for ways to bolster their revenue and support local efforts to attract industry. But in recent years the companies have taken on another task - from Gulf Power’s site certification programs to Duke Energy’s community databases to Florida Power & Light’s special rates for startup companies, the state’s power companies have become active players in economic development. The first priority for Florida’s five investor-owned electric utilities is generating and delivering power to more than 7.28 million customers.
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