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Tucson Electric Power Company |
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UniSource Energy President Paul Bonavia on Tucson Electric Power's history, positive renewable energy future and community support |
Long, long ago – in 1892 to be exact – a group of private investors decided it was time to bring electric light to Tucson. They formed a company that has evolved into Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP), a leader in Tucson’s business community.
TEP is the principal subsidiary of UniSource Energy Corporation (NYSE: UNS), Tucson’s largest publicly traded company. More than a century after it began operations with a handful of street lamps in downtown Tucson, TEP now relies on more than 2,000 megawatts of generating capacity and 20,000 plus miles of power lines to serve customers in a southern Arizona service territory spanning 1,155 square miles.
UniSource Energy’s utility customer base has steadily expanded thanks to healthy growth at TEP and the company’s 2003 acquisition of gas and electric systems now operated by UniSource Energy Services (UES).
 UniSource Energy Corporation consolidated its operations in 2011 upon completion of a new $60 million headquarters, located in the heart of downtown Tucson. A significant cornerstone of Tucson's urban redevelopment, the UniSource building brought over 400 employees downtown from other facilities.
TEP's corporate volunteer program, the Community Action Team (CAT), is one of the nation's most organized and dedicated volunteer efforts. TEP employees, along with their friends and family, annually volunteer an average of more than 27,500 hours of their own time to benefit more than 350 Arizona nonprofit organizations.
TEP has twice been selected by the Points of Light Foundation as a winner of the national “Awards for Excellence in Workplace Volunteer Programs.” TEP is the only company to have received the award twice.
 TEP has over 1,250 employees, with more than 300 people employed by sister company UES.
In addition to quality service, one of TEP’s core values is “working to improve the communities that we serve,” said Joe Salkowski, TEP spokesman.
According to Salkowski, the growth of Tucson and all of Arizona will require the company to plan accordingly to meet the needs of a growing customer base in the years ahead.
“As we look to the future we will continue to strengthen our local distribution systems and ensure that we have adequate transmission capabilities,” said Salkowski. “As Tucson grows, our goal is to have facilities already in place to serve our customers.”
Learn more about TEP online at www.tep.com.
Photos courtesy Tucson Electric Power Company.
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