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The '''{{Infobox Company| company_name =Gulf Power Company''' is a regional electric utility that serves the | company_logo = [[Image:GulfPowerLogo.png|center|200px|Gulf Power logo]]| company_type = Investor-owned subsidiary| genre = | foundation = [[PensacolaOctober 29]] area as well as the entirety of , [[Escambia County1925]] and the | founder = Southeastern Power & Light Company| location_city = | location_country = | location =[[Wikipedia:Florida PanhandleOne Energy Place]]<br/>Pensacola, FL| origins = |Florida Panhandlekey_people = [[Susan Story]] east to the , President| area_served = | industry = Utilities| products = | services =| revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | num_employees = 1,408| parent = [[Wikipedia:Apalachicola RiverSouthern Company|Apalachicola RiverSouthern Company]]| divisions =| subsid = | owner = | company_slogan = | contact =| homepage =[http://www.gulfpower.com/ www.gulfpower.com]| dissolved = | footnotes = }}'''Gulf Power Company''' is a regional utility that provides electric service ten counties in the Florida Panhandle. It is a subsidiary of the [[Wikipedia:Southern Company|Southern Company]]. Gulf Power's corporate headquarters are located in [[downtown Pensacola]].

The current President and CEO of Gulf Power is 's corporate headquarters are located at [[Susan StoryOne Energy Place]] in the [[Hawkshaw]] neighborhood along [[Pensacola Bay]].

[[Susan Story]] has been president and CEO of Gulf Power since [[2003]]. ==History==The origins of electrical utilities in Pensacola can be traced back to [[June 3]], [[1887]], when the State of Florida incorporated the [[Pensacola Electric Company]]. The city's first electrical generating plant was constructed near [[Baylen]] and [[Cedar Street]]s, and the first electric lights were powered on at 7:00 p.m. on [[December 10]], [[1888]]. Within six months the plant was operating at full capacity, and it was replaced by a larger plant at [[Barracks Street|Barracks]] and [[Main Street|Main]]. In [[1906]] the Pensacola Electric Company acquired the city's [[Pensacola streetcar system|streetcar system]] and the [[Escambia County Street Electric Light & Power Company]]. The company was itself purchased by the Southeastern Power and Light Company on [[February 10]], [[1925]]. The Gulf Power Company was organized on [[October 29]], [[1925]] as a subsidiary of the Southeastern Power & Light holding company, serving areas east of Pensacola. After acquiring the assets of the [[Chipley Light & Power Company]], it became an operating public utility on [[February 6]], [[1926]]. Southeastern merged its two Northwest Florida subsidiaries in May [[1927]], keeping the Gulf Power name. The company initially had 7,366 customers. On [[September 6]], 1926, a [[Hurricane of 1926|hurricane]] made landfall near Pensacola. The plant at Barracks and Main was battered by 120 mph winds and lost one of its stacks before the 9.5-foot [[storm surge]] finally extinguished the boilers. Southeastern sent 600 workers from Gulf Power's sister companies to replace the thousands of rotting chestnut poles that had been wrecked by the storm, and full electric service was restored more than two months later on [[November 10]]. By year's end, a 110,000-volt line connected [[Flomaton]] to Pensacola via a substation in [[Brentwood]]; the [[Wikipedia:Allis-Chalmers|Allis-Chalmers]] steam generator at the Main Street plant was put on standby, and Gulf Power would rely on imported energy for the next 39 years. In [[1929]], Southeastern Power & Light merged with a New York-based Hodenpyl, Hardy & Company, forming a new parent company called Commonwealth & Southern. Gulf Power deemed the streetcar system they had inherited from the Pensacola Electric Company a money-losing endeavor and discontinued service in [[1931]]; those assets were eventually sold to [[Pensacola Transit, Inc.]] in [[1945]]. The 1930s saw expansion of electrical service to rural areas of the Florida Panhandle, despite the financial hard times of the [[Depression]], and by [[1939]] Gulf Power had 17,555 customers. The [[Pensacola Steam Plant]] (later named for company president [[James F. Crist]]) brought its first generating unit on-line on [[January 1]], [[1945]], with a capacity of 22,500 kilowatts. Meanwhile, Commonwealth & Southern had been dissolved in compliance with the [[Wikipedia:Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935|Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935]], and in [[1947]] Gulf Power was acquired (along with three other former C&S subsidiaries) by the recently incorporated [[Wikipedia:Southern Company|Southern Company]]. {{stubsectstub}} ===Presidents==={{colbegin}}#[[Francis B. Carter]] ([[1926]]-1928)#[[Thomas W. Martin]] ([[1928]]-1931)#[[Robert W. Williamson]] ([[1931]]-1935)#[[Eugene A. Yates]] ([[1935]]-1948)#[[James F. Crist]] ([[1948]]-1955)#[[Lansing T. Smith, Jr.]] ([[1955]]-1961)#[[Robert L. Pulley]] ([[1961]]-1964)#[[Clyde A. Lilly, Jr.]] ([[1964]]-1968)#[[Robert F. Ellis, Jr.]] ([[1969]]-1978)#[[Edward L. Addison]] ([[1978]]-1983)#[[Douglas L. McCrary]] ([[1983]]-1994)#[[Travis J. Bowden]] ([[1994]]-2002)#[[Thomas A. Fanning]] ([[2002]]-2003)#[[Susan Story]] ([[2003]]-){{colend}} ==Facilities=====Plants===*[[James F. Crist Generating Plant]]*[[Herbert Scholz Generating Plant]] *[[Lansing Smith Generating Plant]] ==Rates==Gulf Power has a monopoly on electric utilities in the Northwest Florida area, and as such its prices are regulated by the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), which must approve all rate increases. ==External links & references=={{refbegin}}*[http://www.gulfpower.com/ gulfpower.com] &ndash; Official site*"A Tradition of Service: Gulf Power Company, 1926-2001." Gulf Power Corporate Communications Department, 2001.{{refend}} [[Category:Gulf Power|Gulf Power]] [[Category:Utilities]]