New Sierra Club Report: TECO Further Backslides on Clean Energy Transition

TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa Electric Company (TECO) has received its third consecutive "F" grade, according to the Sierra Club's 2025 Dirty Truth Report. TECO's failing grade dropped from a six in the 2024 report iteration to a four out of 100. For its part, Tampa-based Seminole Electric Coop scored a zero, the lowest possible score, for the fifth consecutive year.

The annual Dirty Truth Reportgrades 75 utilities across the country on their plans to retire coal plants by 2030, not build new gas plants through 2035, and transition to clean energy through 2035. The report shows that Seminole and TECO are overwhelmingly failing to plan a transition to local, affordable, and reliable clean energy. Meanwhile, customers' electricity bills are rapidly increasing.

See Interactive Webpage to Track and Compare Dirty Truth Scores.

Seminole Electric Coop has scored a zero of 100 in every iteration of the Dirty Truth Report. TECO's failing grade is due, in large part, to continued operations of its uneconomical coal unit, Big Bend Unit 4. TECO also plans to build new gas at a former Polk Power Station coal unit. Meanwhile, electric bills continue to increase for local families and high emissions threaten the health of nearby communities.

"When TECO fails, the people of Tampa pay the price," said Walter Smith, Tampa Bay Organizing Representative. "Bill increases, high asthma rates, and intensified hurricane seasons. Tampa families have felt the heavy, inequitable costs of coal and gas. By keeping aging and expensive coal online, TECO is making everyone's bills go up. Now more than ever, affordable, clean solar and battery power are the off-ramp Tampa needs to lower bills and exit this volatile fossil fuel roller coaster."

"It is alarming that for the first time since 2021, utilities are regressing on their clean energy transition," said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. "By adding more gas and keeping costly coal plants online, utility companies are ignoring renewable energy-the cheapest form of energy-and forcing their customers to pay more. As energy costs rise and extreme weather becomes more frequent, now is the time to phase out polluting, volatile, expensive fossil fuels and invest in stable, reliable, and affordable, clean energy."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.