City cooling centers are using less energy and operating at lower costs this summer thanks to efficiency upgrades supported by TEP.

Through rebates and incentives, TEP helped the City of Tucson reduce the cost of facility upgrades. The city expects to save about $125,000 in electric costs each year at eight buildings after investing about $12,700 on upgrades.

Over the long-term, these savings will help the City of Tucson continue to provide public spaces where residents can stay cool during the extreme heat of the summer months.

“We greatly appreciate TEP’s partnership to deliver strong measurable results,” said Michael Catanzaro, the City of Tucson’s Energy Manager.

TEP contractor Franklin Energy collaborated closely with the city in weekly meetings to identify energy saving opportunities. In September 2025, the city selected eight buildings for projects supported by TEP rebates, including:

• El Pueblo Senior, Activity and Adult Learning Centers
• Donna Liggins Recreation Center
• Randolph Recreation Center
• Freedom Recreation Center
• Archer Recreation Center
• Udall Recreation Center

The City of Tucson picked these initial sites as quicker locations with high use and plans to add more buildings in the future.

With TEP’s Business Energy Solutions program, TEP partnered with the city to perform “retrocommissioning” – a process that optimizes a building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system performance to improve efficiency. In addition to the overall savings, the work improved scheduling, controls, and building automation systems at the buildings.

New buildings are “commissioned” to run optimally with new equipment, but efficiency lessens over time. Through the “retrocommissioning” process, equipment can be adjusted and tuned up to improve efficiency and comfort. Energy management systems can be installed to allow heating and cooling to be scheduled and set up optimally for usage in separate rooms and areas.

The energy-efficiency upgrades will help the city achieve climate-action goals outlined in its Tucson Resilient Together plan by reducing the carbon footprint of city operations. They also demonstrate TEP’s longstanding partnership with the city to support our entire community.

City voters will have an opportunity this summer to extend that partnership by approving a new 25-year TEP franchise agreement. The agreement sets terms for TEP’s use of city property and will have no impact on rates.

If voters approve the agreement, TEP will begin providing the city with $2 million annually through an Energy Collaboration Agreement focused on achieving the city’s energy-related objectives. Those funds will come from company resources and won’t be included in costs that are passed along to customers through our rates.