As we celebrate our 130th anniversary this year, let’s look back at how it all started.
Setting the scene – early Florida
In the late 1800s, railroad pioneers started to develop Florida. Henry Flagler built railroads and hotels and started businesses down the east coast. Henry Plant built hotels, rail lines and other enterprises down the west coast. These efforts helped grow the then-small communities of Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami. And the growth brought an ever-increasing need for energy to light new urban streets.
Tampa Gas Company, which would become Peoples Gas System, was founded in April 1895. Gas was manufactured from coal in a small gas plant and a 30,000-cubic foot tank was built for storage. Laborers dug trenches by hand, block by block, to install the gas main infrastructure to move the gas. This delivery system would eventually grow to become today’s modern system of gas distribution throughout Florida.
At its start, Tampa Gas Company struggled to meet expenses. Most homes had wood-burning stoves and residents did not want to bother with the cost or effort to pipe gas to their homes. In 1898, the company entered into a contract with the city of Tampa to supply gas for 250 city streetlamps, essentially saving the company from bankruptcy. The streetlights came with specific instructions – to be lit nightly except for the three nights during the month when the moon was full.
Growth of manufactured gas
Around the same time, gas manufacturing facilities started running in Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. By 1903, Tampa Gas Company had 363 customers (only 109 with gas stoves). In 1910, customers increased to more than 1,100 and annual sales totaled 35,000,000 cubic feet. A larger manufactured gas plant and storage facility were constructed in 1912 to support the growth, and corporate employees moved into the new Tampa Gas Building.
The original Miami gas plant was located in the pine woods several miles from the town center. It employed seven people and served 68 homes and businesses.
The 1920s to 1950s
In the 1920s, gas lights gave way to the electric light bulb. But this didn’t stop the gas business. The industry shifted its focus from mainly providing street lighting to distributing manufactured gas for other uses such as cooking, heating and water heating. Showrooms displayed the variety of natural gas appliances that customers could select.
As Florida continued to grow, the need for gas continued to increase as well. New gas mains were extended out from the original gas piping that served the center of the towns to reach outlying communities and businesses.
Enormous new gas storage tanks were built to meet the increased demand from residential, industrial and commercial customers. These facilities were soon among the dominant structures on Florida’s city skylines.
Mid-century consolidations
In 1955, the first of several consolidations of the original independent gas operations throughout Florida began. Peoples Water and Gas Company of North Miami purchased Tampa Gas Company. Three years later the combined operations, serving more than 30 Florida communities, were reincorporated as Peoples Gas Systems, Inc. Operations were divided into an East Coast division centered in North Miami and a West Coast Division with headquarters in Tampa.
Bringing natural gas to Florida
The gas distribution business in Florida underwent a major change in 1959. Peoples Gas began to close gas manufacturing operations. Facilities and infrastructure were converted to support the distribution of natural gas, which was available for the first time through a newly constructed pipeline built by the predecessor of Florida Gas Transmission Company.
The natural gas was transported from well fields in Texas and Louisiana across north Florida to the southern tip of the state. Expansion of this statewide distribution network continued through the 1960s and 1970s. This allowed for the coordination of all natural gas operations within the Peoples Gas system.
Continued evolution
In 1976, Lykes Brothers, Inc. acquired the stock of Peoples Gas and, in 1979, purchased the distribution properties of the Florida Gas Company. The company expanded to 11 operating divisions by 1990, including Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Lakeland, St. Petersburg, Miami and Eustis.
Peoples Gas came under TECO Energy’s umbrella as a division of Tampa Electric Company through an acquisition in 1997. That same year, TECO Energy also acquired West Florida Natural Gas, a company with customers in key parts of the Florida Panhandle and Central Florida.
In 2016, Peoples Gas, along with the other TECO Energy affiliates, joined the Emera family of companies. January 2023 marked another milestone, when the assets of Peoples Gas were moved from Tampa Electric into a separate corporation called Peoples Gas System, Inc., a subsidiary of TECO Gas Operations Inc., a new gas operations holding company under TECO Energy, Inc.
Fueling Florida’s future
Today, Peoples Gas is Florida’s largest natural gas distribution utility, serving more than 500,000 homes and businesses across the state. The company’s mission is to make life better for communities by delivering safe, resilient, efficient and affordable natural gas energy solutions. Through investments in people, technology, infrastructure and environmentally focused innovations, Peoples Gas is committed to fueling Florida’s clean energy future responsibly and sustainably.
