The mission of the Texas Medical Center Central Heating and Cooling Services Cooperative Association (TECO) is to provide economical and reliable thermal services to institutions in the Texas Medical Center.

TECA specializes in providing thermal services allowing its customers to concentrate on their primary missions, which have brought national and international acclaim to the Texas Medical Center.

The TECO Central Plant was originally built by the Houston Natural Gas Corporation (HNG) and began operation in 1969, serving many of TECO's present customers. In 1975, under the leadership of the Texas Medical Center, a committee was formed to explore the possible acquisition of the HNG plant. The committee's efforts resulted in the formation of Texas Medical Center Central Heating and Cooling Services Cooperative Association authorized by the State of Texas to operate on a not-for-profit cooperative basis, to serve eligible institutions. Subsequent negotiations resulted in acquisition of the HNG plant on June 1, 1978.

Today, the cooperative is owned by nine Texas Medical Center institutions and operates two plants (Central Plant and South Main Plant) with a combined capacity of 52,000 tons of chilled water and 542,000 pounds-per-hour of steam. These plants supply service to 25 Texas Medical Center institutions in 42 buildings, which occupy approximately 10 million square feet of space, and represent over 75 percent of contiguous Texas Medical Center central campus building space. TECO is the only thermal system in the Texas Medical Center authorized to supply multi-institution services.

TECO expands as needed to keep pace with the service needs of the institutions, and operates one of the largest and most up-to-date thermal systems in the world; a system which no single institution could reasonably justify or afford. More importantly, TECO saves its customers money, in real and relative terms, at a time when cost containment is so imperative to health care. TECO's economy of size and commitment to excellence result in increased productivity and minimum cost. Design and operating philosophies provide safeguards and back-up systems resulting in ample redundancy to ensure the reliable services required.

Reliability, cost-effectiveness, and exemplary service are TECO's cornerstones and it