Duke Energy of Florida Reviews

This company sucks..I. have done my new due diligence in making sure doors, windows, etc. are closed in a consistent basis..For them to tell me my upcoming bill is 615$. It's bullshit! #boycottdukeenergy!.

This is the worse power company I’ve ever had. I live alone and don’t do much and my bill keeps getting higher and higher and they can’t tell me why. I’m at 250+ for upcoming the month. I will avoid living anywhere this company services. I've had OUC and with just 2 people it stayed under $100 and at one point we had 6 people and it didn’t even reach $250. Duke Energy is pathetic and just greedy. People do not move anywhere that has duke energy. They are ripping people off.

Absolutely terrible customer service. Was hung up on 2 times and placed on a 1 hour hold before reaching someone. Only to be told there was basically nothing they could do. My power bill has never been late or missed, and the surges have Absolutely wrecked my AC unit. I have burned 2 capacitors in 3 years because of the power fluctuations. Over $1000 in repairs because of the duke energy grid. Then customer service hangs up after you complain about surges and random outages. Daylight no storms and power will randomly surge and go out. GET OUT OF SAINT PETERSBURG DUKE, YOU ARE A TERRIBLE COMPANY.

Spoke with agent in fraud department at Duke name Luana and she stated that you can get services with Duke at anyone’s address without residing there, even if you don’t know them…. My services were stopped today without my consent and turned down into another person‘s name, even though I called in the week and explained to them that I was gonna pay my bill in a couple of days. Contact the Duke Energy and all they can tell me is that they cannot do anything about it because Anyone can turn on services that anyone’s house, you don’t have to reside there. Don’t understand the situation, but I believe that’s fraud. I believe that you should always have some kind of proof that you reside at that address, so my services was stopped. I’m a single parent of two kids and was turned on in someone else’s name that doesn’t even live in the United States without my consent. Duke Energy sucks.

Let it be heard loud and clear: Duke Energy is the corporate face of modern economic crime. A degenerate enterprise, a multinational parasite disguised as a public utility, whose only mission is to drain every last cent from the defenseless citizen. They don’t sell electricity — they sell despair. While their executives drown in financial cocktails and shareholders swim in obscene dividends, millions are forced to choose between a warm meal and a working lightbulb. This is the energy dictatorship, and Duke Energy is its supreme tyrant.

This is by far the most disappointing utility company I’ve ever dealt with. Not only are the rates outrageously high—most of my bill apparently coming from my AC and, according to them, my refrigerator—but the service is completely unreliable. I live in a 1-bedroom upstairs apartment in Florida, and my monthly bill is $300. Their advice to reduce costs? Keep my AC at 78°F. That’s practically cooking indoors in Florida’s summer heat.

This is the worst company I have ever dealt with in my life! How is it that I’m not even at my one bedroom apartment for the entire summer the air is turned up to 82° and my bill is over $300 a month!! I’ve had people come out and check out making sure I’m not losing any air. My place was well insulated! I couldn’t even switch to a different company because they monopolize the entire area. I swear they were charging me for my neighbor's meter. Finally at move out time I shut off my service with them. They told me I was paid in full. I now have an $80 bill that hit my credit report. bringing me from excellent credit that I have worked my entire life to achieve back down to fair because of them. No letter. No phone call. Nothing!!

I missed one payment. Power cut off in 5 days. Charges fee then this month I get charge a 215.00 deposit. I was in rehab from falling at that time. No notice. Had power with same company for over 60 yrs.

Only giving one star because I have to, otherwise they would get zero! Terrible company! I live in a small one bedroom apartment and they charge me $178.00 a month! This isn’t just because of hurricanes, they have been screwing people for years and getting away with it because they are a regulatory company. Anyone with any kind of power must know how bad they are and they do NOTHING. Meanwhile they continue to $$ take advantage of their customers year after year. They screwed me out of several hundred dollars a few years ago regarding their so called surge protection insurance. Don’t fall for it! They will send you on a wild goose chase and then come up with a completely stupid excuse to not pay for your damaged electronics and there is NOTHING you can do. There is another electric company and their reviews are just as bad.

We just moved to Belleview Fl. While I like being out in the country I am very angry with the power companies and want to use another one. My first bill with Duke Energy was a whopping $893.00. Well I just got my 2nd bill after only 1 month and it is $944.00. I am so angry. I cannot stand them. Who pays almost 2k in 2 months???? I am going to contact anyone who will listen!! They are thieves and need to be stopped! I am writing the governor, he better do something about this horrific company!!! Who can afford to pay that kind of money for power????

Been with Duke for 12 years. Always pay in full up receipt of bill. Didn't get June bill. Got notice they were going to cut off power in ten days. Called them twice and they couldn't explain why they would cancel service Paid in full 4 days late. This month got $5 late payment penalty. On hold for 12 minutes again no explanation on cut off notice and no abatement of penalty. Very poor customer service. Paid in full current bill. No way to treat excellent customer.

They are charging me for days I did not occupy my apartment. Why have a stop service button if it doesn't work? They didn't even take my lease agreement that show proof of days I was at the apartment and not. Spoke to supervisor Brenda. She already had a tone from the beginning and basically told me she couldn't help. -9999999999999/10 review!

I gave them a Credit Card to charge. Last several months I’d get disconnected threat. I’d call. Give it again. Again tell them put on Auto pay. Today I received same and when I called. They said, "We don’t do auto pay with cc. Only checking." They wanted over 200 security payment. None the employees for last 4 months have told me that. Now they want a security payment. And they had a cc on hand to make the payment. It’s ethically wrong in so many ways. I told them, "So you want to penalize me when you had a form of payment." Oh but they’ll take cc over phone. They even had my cc saved.

The deal that the State of Florida made with Duke Energy regarding solar energy over production is about as bad as it gets. Last month I produced 547 kwh more than I consumed yet still received a $30+ electric bill. To make matters worse, the overage does not "bank"! So Duke is retailing energy that I put into the grid and giving me nothing!!! How is this even legal? Despicable corporate greed! Class Action Lawsuit time!

I tried to call this company to find out why after we changed ALL the windows we have a much higher bill than the same period last year. I spent 40 min on the phone listening to their music. Finally some guy picked up the phone and told me that he doesn't know anything. They are busy. I asked him to to get me to their supervisor. Maybe he /she knowns anything. The agent said fine and switched me to an automatic payments. So this company can do anything and there is absolutely NO responsibility. No, I don't recommend THIS company.

Rip off. I'm hardly home don't use my electric as much. Like the insurance company they go up on price and give no reason. They are criminals. This is extortion at its finest. The whole Poinciana complains about these pos company and we can't do nothing.

Duke Energy contracted a company F&H to replace an underground cable to one of my neighbors across the street. The contractor was there for 1 week the 1st time and 3 days the 2nd week. They made a complete mess in my front yard, cracked my driveway and to top it off they broke the water meter and damaged both the county line and my line. When I called Duke they told me they contracted claims to a 3rd party company and I needed to contact them.

The worst electric company, if you are not locked into a monopoly zone go elsewhere. Rated continue to go up yearly, just had a $59 hike in my bill, the claim is always to "fix infrastructure" but they never fix anything, power goes out a minimum of once a week in perfect weather. I used to live in the North with snow, blizzards, ice on the lines and had less power outages. To me it also seems a strange coincidence that when the power went out it just went off, then they started selling appliance insurance in case of surges, since then each power outage is close to ten surges then off, just seems a very convenient coincidence.

Duke Energy is by far one of the worst companies to do business with. I cannot wait for the day that utilities go back to being public so these crooked companies are out of business. They offer a very lackluster and unreliable service that constantly is going down. Your company's lazy and when you call for tree trimming because the trees are over their lines. You have to make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau just for them to take action. These companies are garbage and put out a garbage product and need to be taken back by the General Public.

I lived in South Florida for years and never had such an high electric bill with FPL. I move to Orlando Fl. It doubled with Duke Energy. Governor DeSantis needs to look into Duke energy. What an absolute rip off. And not allowed to use any other company for my electric. Ask me it’s a big ole Scam With Duke Energy!!

Duke used to be a decent company, they would work with you when you have problems paying, they not only don't do that any more. But for people that already have a hard time paying, they gave us a second deposit of $200!!! How can these people get away with this. Obviously we have trouble paying so you're gonna make it harder?? We need our power, so we will pay, it may be late but we always pay, so why are you going to punish those who are less fortunate?? You should be ashamed of yourselves and company!

I've been a Duke customer for years multiple homes at the same time and I was out of town didn't receive a bill and they shut my power off after only 9 days past due. I had pets in the house, stuff in the fridge and it was only $161 past due. Seems awful excessive for only 9 days past due and $161.00.

Duke energy is the worst ever. I paid my bill on time. As always they are saying that they didn't get my payment. I can't understand. The second customer service representative still was of no help. My bank statement clearly shows that a payment was made and now Duke energy wants me to prove that the payment was made because their system is not working correctly. Duke energy you need to go away. Let somebody else take Florida over. Your customer service is absolutely garbage.

If you are looking at purchasing a home please do your homework. If you are not in the 1% then Duke is not for you. Your bills will be 40% higher than if you are in ANY other electric company. My neighbor right across the street is FPL. SAME house layout. His family of 5 has a $220 electric bill consistently. My family of 3 is near $400.00 every month. Please calculate that into your cost analysis of bills when you are looking to purchase a home. AVOID DUKE!!

I rented an apartment in Pinellas Park, Florida, for five years before relocating to my home state. Throughout my time there, I always paid my Duke Energy bills on time, though the charges often seemed higher than expected. For a household of just two people who rarely cooked, watched TV, or used many electronic devices, the bills sometimes felt excessive almost as if I was paying for someone else’s usage.

My mom passed away. She was the only one living in her house. Notified Duke Energy the morning her autopay was due by phone. My mom's bank accounts were frozen due to death. So autopay would be rejected. Was told, no problem. No need to pay it over the phone. Wait till the final bill comes in. Pay it all then. Electric won't be turned off. Next thing I get an email saying bill came back unpaid. $30 charge. Called to get it removed. Explained everything. Was told it wasn't my account. They wouldn't remove it. Terrible customer service. Can't wait to bid them farewell.

What a terrible company. But it makes sense when you look at their Rating of 1.6/5.0 as I write this. Our 60-year-old family member was in hospital for a triple bypass and was told by customer service not to worry, that her power would not be cut while in hospital and that she could call back and make a payment arrangement when she got home. Well, they sent her another disconnect notice while in the hospital (which she didn't get 'because' she was in the hospital and disconnected it anyway). When we called and asked what happened, they would not put the promised payment arrangement in place because the power was not cut and she was ineligible. Situation: 60 year old triple bypass surgery patient in the dark with no power to monitor and track important vitals. All managers said the same thing. No payment arrangement. You can do much better with 'any' other provider. Shame.

I had two people renting rooms from me. They broke into my business at a different location, they lied and had me removed from the home under a restraining order, and then they used my identity after stealing my birth certificate and passport to cancel the power turning off in my name with Duke Energy. I filed a police report and FTC report on the incident. Duke Energy refused to place the power in my new roommate's name actually turned the power off. My new roommate has two small children. Duke Energy would not turn the power back on unless I paid them the whole $847.30. I am 62 years of age and currently disabled.

Duke Energy cut our power because someone filed an application and use the incorrect address, this is beyond ridiculous. What about a second check on accounts? What about making a call to the homeowners? What about matching names? (that person name was not on the account). They need to establish a fraud alert system before someone who needs power to survive (like a life support machine) is killed for their negligence

Don't miss a payment in these trying times because it will only get worse! I missed a single payment in December 2024 and my power was turned off. Once I knew I had power disconnected, I paid immediately over the phone. It is my fault I missed the payment. Would have been nice if Duke would have notified me of payment being late!

Starting with the energy wise don't put that service. They steal your money. Your bill after you put that is a trick and charge you every month more and more higher than have a limit of payment of cards to then put the bank account number. This people are stealing. Even they block the system to make the payment when you are going to pay before disconnection to then charge you extra. Elites that try to control everything and steal more to the humanity. Worse company ever. Everything to get more money from your pocket, better put solar panels to don't pay to this trash people, then if you are going to do a review they don't let you.

Duke has terrible customer service, their outage map and updates are a farce and their equipment sucks. I waited on the phone for almost 10 mins to speak to someone about the power outage in my area, because there has been no change in the "outage updates" for more than 2 hours. It is a beautiful, sunny day and their equipment failed, again, and there is no update on restoration. I had to fight through their "robo-secretary" and when I finally got to a person was hung up on, and was never even spoken to. Duke as a company is terrible and needs to do better.

So sad to call to try and get an issue resolved and the Customer service person is in a foreign country and says my name incorrect 4 times after telling her it's Rita, Not Frida! She then couldn't locate my account and then she say a wrong street name, Magaden, when it's McCracken. I asked her to spell it and it was correct, she just said it wrong. Seriously? This not acceptable. You'd think with the $$$ Billions they make in profits they could at least have a customer service dept that can understand us.

We are building in Citrus County FL and Duke has been utterly incompetent in getting power to our home. They have known for 4 months and still no power. They are impacting our closing date on our house and we may have nowhere to live soon. Unfortunately there are no alternatives. They are a monopoly in our county.

I had Duke for 1 years in a small RV. My bill was $1,300. Out of nowhere. I shut it off. Said I'll use my dim lights. The power is all piggy backed on my side. There was a 80 thousand dollar contract. Director of electric with park took 60 grand and beat feet. We have poles that belong to the park. Neighbor said plug into me. Then screamed You are stealing my power. Here he has not paid a bill. I was paying his bill!! He left week ago. No sign of him. He let his scam out. All the meters are connected. Duke Energy are highway robbers. Florida is supposed to rid of them. It's freezing cold and no heat. They don't care. My poor animals are under blankets all night. Afraid to come out and freeze. Thank you Duke. My dog has cancer. They shut me off in heat wave. My poor dog. Had to be relocated sick. He passed away. Duke don't care. Money money money.

I recently replaced my pool pump and my electricity bill went down $100 every month since. I figured it out by sound this test: turn off the pool pump and after one hour check how much the electricity meter goes up. Then turn it back on and same test. Check the difference. You can calculate the difference in money based on the hourly rate charged by Duke. I noticed the difference was significant so after replacing pool pump my bill went down.

Terrible Power Company! I have had power in my name for over 40 years. I lived in Hudson years ago and WREC power. They were excellent. Never an issue. I lived in Oldsmar and has TECO, also excellent. Never in all that time was my power ever shut off. I moved to Clearwater in 2015 and since then Duke has shut my power of about 8 times. Charged me a higher deposit 3 times and charged me a reconnect fee each time. Today my power was again shut off. I paid last month on 10/24 today is 10/22. The rep said if you don't make a payment they will shut you off on the 31st day. Well apparently I can’t count or read a calendar because 10/24 to 11/22 is 30 days. This company is hands down terrible. They act like they want a reason to shut you off. Rather than trying hard not to. If power is ever deregulated in Florida I will switch to any other company even if they are more expensive. This company is way too aggressive with the disconnects.

I have been a Duke customer since 2013. Every month I go on and pay my bill in full. I moved October 28th after paying my bill for October in full. 2 weeks later I have 3 bills, with 3 separate amounts. Every customer service person has different stories on how I tripled my bill in a few weeks. They won't let you pay a partial bill while they figure it out. I already got scammed by my apartment building for $2600 this week, so my extra money for scams is gone this month. I hope that someday we finally get honest people running Seminole County that will start going after all these crooks robbing everyone blind. So far there is no laws they have to follow.

I was living in Tampa and my electric was $102, No solar, 1100 sqft non Duke energy. Moved to Pasco FL and my electric bill as much as my car payment $220+ so I end up getting solar, have solar on a 806 sq ft home, led lights, new appliances, energy saving everything and I am still paying $189 in electric, my dad has a 1800 sq ft home and pays only $250, no solar. I called everyone solar company, Duke and no one knows why my bill still high. I can't wait to sell this house and get far away from Duke.

I am a seasonal resident of Florida. I made an error on hookup date for power. I discovered the error on Friday (yesterday) after 5 pm. There was no way to contact them to change the date. I now must wait until next Monday to get power rescheduled. I could not use online contact because I do not have a social insurance number. Blocked at every step. Exercise in frustration

My bill spiked from 161.00 to 800.00 in one month. Apparently, my AC unit is drawing a lot of energy. I called Duke to see if they could reduce the bill. They said no way. I was told I should log into my account EVERY day and check my usage. Can you believe this? Like anyone has time to do this. I asked why then send me emails every month telling me how they value my business but don't have to the time to warn customers that they are using excessive energy. They don't have to because it's a monopoly. I only have one choice for power. It's no wonder they have a 1.8 rating. I don't even know why I'm writing this review because they do not care about their rating.

I truly want to thank each and every Duke Energy employees but mostly the lines men. They have worked around the clock to turn back on the electricity for everyone after the 2 major hurricanes. They haven’t seen their families and their electricity also hasn’t been turned on. So, Please do not be mean or rude to them. They don’t deserve this type of treatment. Be patient. They will get your electricity back on. Give them water, tell them thank you and most importantly be nice. These guys and gals deserve awards.

Duke Energy is outrageous in their prices. On top of all that you call to see what is the problem that we at Highland Meadows 2B have been with our electricity going on 5 days. Staff simply do not know. I feel this company really does not care about their customers. Every time there is a Storm, they keep us without electricity for long periods of time. Terrible company.

I just want to say I understand the Duke Energy crews are out there working hard to restore the power due to the hurricane. I really don't want to say anything bad because they are out there working hard but in reality that's their job isn't it? What really makes me upset is Pasco County will not be restored until Tuesday everybody else be restored on Sunday. Well why can't we be restored on Monday? I work from home and I have been off of work since I had the evacuate mandatory evacuation and then I come home you know power and I haven't been able to work so I have no income coming in and our area that is out is this tiny tiny tiny tiny little area that probably requires not much to put us back on.

We are in the 7 block of Bay Esplanade, Clearwater Beach. On Thursday night we came back home after Milton and were happy to find that we had power. Our neighbors next block didn’t. On Friday, a Duke guy came and fixed the other power lines and somehow screwed up ours! Milton didn’t take the power lines, Duke Energy did and no one has responded to our cry for help. We have flooding from Helene (3 ft of water) and must run dehumidifiers. Duke has NOT responded!!!

Everyone keeps praising them for restoring service. Good for you. All they do is look at numbers. My area has a small amount of outages so we’re dead last on their concern. No problem charging me an arm and leg for power, but no hurry to fix it. They suck!!

After Hurricane Milton, the area of Poinciana where I live the truth that it did not happen so serious, if there were its wind gusts quite strong but almost not rainy and been without light since Wednesday that is, it has been 4 days and I still do not understand why. I can't imagine if it had happened as expected how long it would be without light. It's even gotten faster in places farther from civilization. I have a lot of courage for this is a disrespect in this country that both defend and the best in the world. Very disappointed about this record company.

Up til now, I've had no issues with Duke, but almost 400,000 people are still in the dark in Pinellas County two days after Milton and for some reason, Pinellas has been prioritized dead last for restoration. Counties that weren't even in the path of Milton and have a fraction of the outages are being put first. Meanwhile, we might have to wait 3-4 more days. Way to blow any respect people might have had for your company.

Hats off to the brave crews out there restoring our power. Our neighborhood was demolished by Hurricane Milton with poles and lines down everywhere and a substation that blew like the fourth of July and it took less than 2 days to get our power back on. Absolutely phenomenal.

I wanted to recognize all these utility lines men and women. Regardless where they come from, working so hard to get our power back on, they deserve so much recognition beyond with all the hard work working in all sorts of temperatures in different types of weather. Wanted to thank you thank you thank you. Please share this. Let all them get the praise, they deserve.

Duke Energy has the worst customer service and the worst when it comes to actually caring about their customers. They are the most expensive; and we have watched our bill go up and up and up. Each time they say, oh we're investing in solar or new lines or something. Well, had they actually invested in solar, our bills would be going down. Solar is free, the cost comes with panels and lines and the crews to install, and the power plants. But with oil and gas, there is the cost of extracting, processing, transporting, and converting to electricity. The problem with Duke lying to everyone is the sun is shining 24/7 on this planet somewhere. Here in Florida, the sunshine state, the sun shines down from 8 to 12 hours a day. And like others have stated here, Duke energy is one of the most expensive electric companies in the country.

They not ready for hurricane season. They bills is h highest the country but slowest to fixing problems reported like 10 times power lines cables is on the ground and 2 days nobody don’t show up to fix them.

We've had Duke Energy for several years. No complaints and they were amazing restoring service after hurricane Milton. From the office staff to the technicians working day and night for us, Thank you!

Duke Energy is a 29 Billion dollar business that provides poor service and no upgrades to prevent outages. It takes them several days to restore power but don’t pay or be late in payment they turn you off in 10 minutes. It is all about the money. The Governor should have them investigated for negligence and have them pay for large generators to be placed at every home they service. Believe me the CEO, President and executives of this company never lost power or it was back up within 10 minutes. The company has money to have police guard them when hurricanes or other electrical issues are not being resolved by Duke.

This is the worst storm experience I've ever had. Duke is rude and don't care about the customers. If could I would use another company. Y'all are pieces of trash and you're all greedy pricks. I can't use a generator where I'm at so I've lost all my good and can't go on with my life like usual. Everyone around me has power except me. You all should think about the people that can't use generators and get them going quickly.

Duke Energy has the most unreliable service, compared to every place my family has lived, by far. We are a military family, and we have never experienced so many electricity outages, some from simple rain. Duke energy is twice as high for us. On average the cost of energy for a family of 7 was $500 in the summer months, $300+, the rest of the year. But now it's $750+ summer months and $500 the rest of the year. We have done so many things to save energy without our bill going down at all, not even a few dollars, that we are considering moving, to a home without Duke energy.

Duke Energy is the WORST when it comes to hurricanes and outages in FLORIDA. When it fails like clockwork Duke customers can expect to wait a week plus on average before restoring power. One week is a quarter of your monthly, yet they’ll demand payment for the entire month. RIDICULOUS.

Thank you for restoring our power so quickly after Hurricane Milton. We weren't sure how long it would take and your company restored power much quicker than we thought. Less than 24 hours to restore power. Thank you again.

For the largest energy corps in America they can’t even manage to keep one state (Florida) lit during storms. When it fails like clockwork Duke customers can expect to wait a week plus on average before restoring power. One week is a quarter of your monthly, yet they’ll demand payment for the entire month.

Terrible electric company. We lost power at approximately 6:15 (October 9, 2024) last night here in St. Petersburg, FL. It has been more than 24 hours since losing power and Duke Energy still cannot even tell us when power will be restored. Internet, cellphone and city water service are back up and running. Duke energy was not prepared for this most recent hurricane. Plain and simple. We need a better energy supplier, than Duke energy here in Florida. What a disgrace Duke energy turned out to be. Use a competitor if you can.

I don’t even know where to begin…. This company is a RIPOFF, and every time there’s a storm, they justify their VERY POOR service on that. They are very quick to over charge customers for their poor service, but extremely slow to restore service. And I do get it, it’s NOT just me, but just to give an ex: Today, October 10th, a power outage was reported from my subdivision, Live Aoks Estate, in Deltona, Fl. at 04:35am, which is NOT even part of the the power outage map, and it’s now 14:56 and we still have no power! We’re not even on the power outage map, but we have no power. It seems like they shut down our power, just to justify something, make it look like it was a lot more people than it really is. I HATE Duke Energy, I HATE Volusia County! A county with a license to rip people off, typical politicians.

Duke Energy is awesome, they got our power on during the storm and I know there's lots of power lines down and they're in water. I'm a contractor and I know all about electricity so to me this is the best electricity company you'd ever want. Even during the storm, our electricity stayed on several times it went out and it went right back on. Thanks, Duke Energy you're the best.

I checked my account and noticed a balance, but did not get any notification, mail nor email of the balance like normal. Apparently the back office, who does not communicate with customers, made an executive decision to transfer a bill from a closed account into a new open account without consent prior to transfer. I received a statement stating that to avoid collections, please pay, and yet a transfer was made without notice, which causes confusion and questions. Also I was told by the supervisor Rebecca, a mail has been generated to inform me of the transfer the day back office made the transfer, which of course I have not received has of yet. Only financial options were 2 months installment. How does this help customers prepare if the back office is making executive decisions on customers' accounts without notice? Duke is not for customers, just their own pockets!!

Can't really say anything positive about Duke Energy, but at least they text incredibly fast when the service goes out. The electricity barely works, but hey, at least they improved how quickly they tell us how bad they are.

48 hours without power. I do not understand why the concentration of restoration is in the northern counties, why can't you spread the work out between north and south. It's miserable out here. 91 degrees with 100% humidity.

23 hours and counting in a subdivision with underground utilities and no storm damage. Not a truck or crew in site, no response from Duke when outage was reported, no update, no communication. We are in a rural area and they don't care. Only thing they care about is metro Tampa and metro areas. Worst company I have ever dealt with. Completely and utterly useless

210k people without power. The storm has been in panhandle for over 4 hours. It's not raining. Duke Energy is the only ones not helping to put people power back on. I work in the nursing field and there are resident that need power to run breathing machines but if you then make millions of dollars a month but leave people without power someone needs to sue them. Another service needs to come in Pinellas County. Duke energy are nothing but thefts.

Duke Energy is the highest electric company. I would rather have seco. Duke is all about the money not the customer. Now we have a bigger tax charge and a gas change on top of it so the tax is 50 something and the gas is 60 something so that is 100 dollars right there not including your bill. This company really sucks.

I've had 19 outages in my neighborhood since Thanksgiving 2023. You can count on one every 2 weeks. I've never even had more than 10 outages in my 30+ years living in Florida. They aren't doing anything to make it better.

Y’all are actually the worst power company in the world. There is no what y’all come down my road 8 different times for one line & I’m out of power for 4 days. Y’all are so inexperienced & will never be good. That why y’all’s rating is 1.7 on every platform. Do better or close your business.

I wish that writing a review meant consumers had a choice about using this company but we don’t. Tropical Storm Debby didn’t even hit Tampa but I’ve been without power almost 24 hours and counting. Duke has sent me two texts stating my power is restored and or hasn’t been. It’s almost like a timer goes off so they get a better rating without doing the job. You charge for upgrades and Don’t improve. Bury the lines!

Truck came back through and drove slow through the flooded streets. Happy now.

If there was another electrical company besides Duke Energy in my area I would definitely close my account today… All they care about is money. I have kids and now we are 4 hrs in with no electricity after I paid my outstanding bill of 115$ and now I’m risking losing all of the 265$ worth of groceries we just bought Sunday… On top of that I’m in Florida where it’s extremely hot.

Duke Energy the most disrespectful and inconsiderate company I’ve ever spoke to, or dealt with in my life. They have put up obnoxious dangerous and annoying lights all over the entire area of W Wisconsin Ave. Desperately making complaints to install warm white lights with a refuser you clowns don’t bother putting on. What does it take to give people some “RESPECT”.

I needed to replace a circuit breaker box and was eligible for a 15 percent discount only. Read the fine print carefully. What this plan actually covers is of no value.

I am not the owner of the property but there has been several times they have turned our power off even though the bill was paid and this has happened several times. Not to mention, they also would keep it off for hours at a time, even after they gathered enough information that told them the bill was paid. They have made our power flicker several times, I counted 14 times in one day. This has caused so much stress on our appliances, especially our air condition. Every damn time they turn it off, our air condition gets shot and we have to pay for the repairs while also dealing with it being between 85 to 90 degrees inside. They need to realize every time they turn our damn power off that it costs us money and we have to deal with THEIR problems. Every other home we have had never had this problem but once we got to our newest home with Duke Energy, we have had this problem SEVERAL TIMES.

I have been a customer in good standing of Duke Energy since 2005. I was 2 days late paying my bill this month and when I went on-line to pay it in full, I see that they had already scheduled my service for disconnection. I was able to avoid this outrageously escalated response to a slightly late payment but am just disgusted that Duke would do this to a customer after 20 years in a heat wave and who has children. Just totally disgusted...

So I had issues with my card and for some reason my acct didn't get paid when I sent it through. I had the money and that wasn't an issue, but they shut my power down and fried my new electronics. When I told them about it they said they would have someone call me, so I waited nearly a week and get a call. The person's job was to piss me off so she could say goodbye without handling anything. If I had another choice for power company I would use them. I am looking into solar cause Companies like this shouldn't be able to do what they are able to do, and that's just shut down your power whenever they feel it serves them the best.

I've lived in Ocala a year and a half. Unfortunately, I have Duke as my Electric company. During this time, my electric has gone off nearly eight times for hours at end. This week alone, it's gone off twice. Not only does it completely go off for hours but it'll flicker several times for several minutes, (stressing out all appliances). Then when you call customer service, and they're condescending and are no help whatsoever. They can't even come up with a reason to why their power is so unreliable or why it's gone out previously. I never had this problem with Teco Energy! I feel like we're living back in the horse & buggy age, with Duke energy and their extremely outdated, unreliable equipment.

Duke Energy is the worst company I have ever met, I am 9 years old with them and my bill did not exceed 230 in summer and 180 in winter. But they made me fraud because without my authorization they enrolled me in a program called Budget Billing, which I did not know about their existence until I called them and they told me about this, and I already have a year obliged to pay a total of 611 to 700 per month, this is incredible to believe that they enroll you in a program which is twice as expensive as what you consume in electricity per month, and I have already called them and talked to manager and no one has been able to help me and give me a solution, and to report Fraud requires it to be by means of a letter.

So I put in a work order to have some tree trimming done around a light pole and one of the limbs is actually pulling on the power line. Duke says it's okay. There's nothing wrong, I beg to differ. I also have pictures that I will post.

Duke Energy is still telling Online Information Services that I have an outstanding balance with them and I have paid it over a year ago! I have proof that I have paid it and every time I call Duke they tell me I don’t have an outstanding balance and my account is closed. I am sick of the games!!! My credit score is hurting because of this nonsense!

Duke Energy is the worst light company! They don’t come out to read meters yet they have a computer to guesstimate your monthly bill that’s runs about $500 a month. The worst company to work with. Smh.

Mara **, Supervisor, Work Management Support did an OUTSTANDING job assisting us and our neighbors here in Poinciana Florida. The street lamp near our house has been restored to its original fixture and lamp - now burns a nice amber color that matches the rest of the lamps on our street. We (neighbors included) cannot thank Mara enough for going above and beyond to restore our street lamp that was mistakenly replaced with a newer fixture that burned a different color than those on the rest of our street.

I had a program help me with my electric bill and I ended up having to move out of county and had a $573 credit. I moved out in October 2023 and have called several times about the refund check. The portal says in due a credit and a check will be mailed within 12 days. I called again November 10 to update my address. They said it could take 30-40 days. I called back again the beginning of December they said check back in about 2 weeks. I called December 13 and was put through to three different people. And the rep over this said the check hadn’t been mailed but she put a ticket in for the back office to mail it. Now she said it could take another 30 days.

I would give negative stars if I could. I was overcharged by Duke Energy!!! $804.30 for one month!!! I’ve never paid more than $200 for a bill with them for my property. No alerts, No help from customer service, no remorse. They can’t get away with this!!! I was devastated!!! They cannot take advantage of consumers and get away with it!!! This is outrageous and unethical!!! Horrible horrific service.

I have been in my apt 100 sq apt and my bills are coming more than 200 a month and I called Duke Energy regarding this issue and they just keep raising the bill more and more. I have Electric outages 2x a week on my building because of the poor services Duke energy supplies and there is no reimbursement of every time of the electricity goes out due to poor services. The bill jumps higher. Duke Energy is fraud. Their customers by making the electricity consistently go out to jack up the bill prices. My bills are extremely high and it does make sense. I called the customer service. Don’t want to help and I need time to pay these extremely high bills and they don’t want to help with this either. I pay 2000 rent plus 200 or more for electricity. This robbery.

So let's start with I have an RV that they charge $350 on average for their service. Now let's discuss what is being used for that service, lights, TV and air. Everything else is propane. Now we lived 2 blocks from where we are now and our bill was less than 100. But Duke has absolutely no idea why that is. Let's see here, Brian Savoy can not do numbers, and CEO Lynn Goods total compensation package jumped to $21.35 million!!!! Can you say price gouging!!!! People wake up, your Bills go up because Lynn Goods can not live within her means. Seriously $21.35 million a year!!!! Do you make that, can you make ends meet? It's time for a change people, start making the complaints!!!! I have already done so!!!! Stand up to corruption!!!!

I've been with Duke Energy For Awhile. I lived in my home since 2020 and my bill is outrageous. I live alone, insulated my attic, had electric work done, put timers on my water heaters, put a clothesline up and keep my air at 80 degrees. I don't use my oven at all and was on the budget billing, because nothing I did seemed to lower my bill. November's bill is 1044.00 dollars and they don't give a crap. I'm disabled veteran, can't work and only on Social Security. Now I see why people are homeless. Now either, I'm going to have to not pay some bills, or cut my power off completely. This is so unfair how they are raising the prices like that. Guess I'm gonna be a homeless veteran with my pup.

My power bill has been going up continuously every month since I moved in. All my appliances are energy efficient, and I have a 3 ton air conditioner manufactured and installed in 2020. It is brand new. I've had my ducts inspected and my energy to make sure there are no open lines or leaks. My house is only 1200 sq ft and it is a block home. My thermostat is set at a miserable 80 degrees. I am a single DISABLED VETERAN on fixed income and due to my injury, I am unemployed. Even when I turn my breaker off for the entire home, I get energy spikes at midnight and 3am which I am being charged for.

Called to ask for explanation of 55% bill increase from July to August. After a couple of calls and a couple of call transfers, all that customer service & billing experts could say was that I needed to pay my bill because they were right and that I should get an energy audit (like my system went from professionally service in May to efficient in June & July to inefficient in August). How do these monopolies continue to be allowed to operate with such poor oversight?

Every month Duke Energy raises the bill at least $30. We turn off the A/C when it is cooler in the evening and morning. Quite often the power is out. The bill has gone up from $200+ to $370+. What are people supposed to do? Companies obviously can raise their bill to the customer as much as they wish anytime they wish. The residents can not raise their income the same way. I believe some organization needs to insist that they find ways they can save money and pass the savings to the users.

I just wanted to say in the past few years of customer service I have dealt with all kinds of people, but Tracy made everything I needed so easy to access. She made me feel important while still having a long day. Even got me to get on protection! She really does take care of you. Oh, and by the way Happy Birthday! She turns 50 in the next few days. Thank you Duke Energy for always being on top of it!

I work in property management. We have multiple properties that Duke Energy services for electric service. We pay approximately $18,000.00 in bills ON TIME to Duke Energy every month on behalf of the properties we manage. When NEW service is activated we state the mailing address has to be a separate address. EVERY TIME we do this we get a confirmation email from Duke stating the mailing address is confirmed and will be different to the service address. EVERY TIME new service is established Duke Energy does NOT send the bill to the correct address. This requires me, THE CONSUMER to call back and walk the staff through the process. This only started recently.

I've had Duke Energy of Florida for over 5 years now and NEVER been late on my bill and had to pay a $575 deposit to start service back then. After 2 years, the money was refunded by reduction in my monthly bills until the $575 was satisfied which was NOT explained at the time. Customer service just said if I paid my bill on time for 2 years Duke Energy would refund my deposit. They certainly didn't say I wouldn't be receiving it immediately like they demand the deposit to be paid. Duke Energy like Pasco County Utility Company IS THE OPTION we have. There is no other company to switch to. So now our monthly bill went from $277 to $500-$600 and we DO NOT have central AC and haven't since last year as we can't afford $7,000-$10,000 to have a new central AC system installed in our 2100 sq ft home and we do not have a pool. We have cut back only to be significantly increased in our bill.

My electric bill was 630 dollars this month due to our AC breaking and running nonstop for 2 days when we were out. They refused to even help out in any way and said there was nothing they could do. Who can afford a 630 energy bill?

Duke Energy overdraw my account twice trying to get money from a payment affecting so I can pay my other few and my other few were late. I called them to fix the situation and I asked them that I wanted to speak with a supervisor to fix that problem and they didn't. They had a supervisor available, a company so large that I don't have a supervisor on duty, they are cheaters. The name of the lady who attended me is Eimy. The customer service needs better training, he wouldn't let me speak.

This company is not pro customers even when they had been with them for years, and that's disappointing! I recently moved and wasn't aware I received a new bill at my old address, quite higher than I usually paid, around 100$ more, even though we barely stayed in the house or left lights on that last month, because we started moving that month to the new house. When I got my 1st bill in the new house, it came to my attention that there was a balance from the other house. I talked to customer service and they agreed to an installment payment of 156$ extra on my next 3 bills to pay for the old address balance. I even received a letter explaining this to me. Then when I went to pay, they wanted me to pay the entirety of that balance plus the balance for my new house.

My boyfriend and I just moved to a new apartment in FL this past June. Everything has been great until we realized that our electric bill was outrageously high. The apartment office said that Duke had raised their prices and will continue raising them as of September 2023. We have our apt. set at 73 yet it's 78 in here. We live in FLORIDA! It's HOT. We figured something was wrong with our AC until we found out its happening to everyone in the area. Duke Energy just wants your money. They don’t care if you have heat stroke. If you can choose another provider I highly recommend doing so. If I could give this -10 stars I would.

You have never seen price gouging like this. Duke Energy spikes the price of your utilities whenever they feel like it, and since they have a monopoly in parts of Florida there is nothing you can do about it.

After living where Florida Power & Light serviced the counties, I moved to Highlands County, FL in Oct. 2022 where the only choice is Duke Energy. From my very 1st bill, which was shocking considering I didn't physically move until a month later, I've had to dance with this highly lucrative, profit-driven, "screw the customer" company. It is abundantly clear they don't have the first iota of concern for the very customers that keep them in business. I know we would all stage a coup if we could! GET THIS MONEY-HUNGRY COMPANY OUT OF FLORIDA and keep FP&L throughout our state!

Half of their charging stations do not work, or make you download ** unreliable apps. They either take 60 hours or are 60 miles away. Have fun running out of charge in the 100 degree Florida heat, because that is what you will get with Duke Energy.

I made a request to Duke Energy to disconnect the main line and reconnect it in the new place 20fts where the main breaker and the meter were relocated. Duke Energy charged me $4800.00 to make the change. I accepted and paid. I had no other option, after I paid they asked for 2 weeks to process the payment, which is ridiculous, after two weeks I called and was informed that Duke Energy would have to obtain a permit to perform the service, they scheduled to come make the change for 07/24/2023, I was informed that they still do not have the permit and do not know when they will install the new main line. MORE THAN 70 DAYS HAVE PASSED, A SHAME, A TOTAL DISREGARD WITH THE CONSUMER, IF I HAD AN OPTION I WOULD ADVISE THIS COMPANY TO PLANT POTATOES.

Duke told me that they're doing underground wiring on my neighborhood. That they needed to place a small 5 by 7 inches in front of my property. It will help the neighborhood. I go to work and I have a transformer without my permission. Duke only cares about profits not their customers. Duke Energy are crooks. Don't believe anything Duke tells you.

You have no choice where to get your electricity. You have to pay whatever they say. They won't answer your questions. Don't like it? They will just shut off your power. Duke Energy is the Electric Mafia.

We were not given notice that our power, during an extreme heat advisory, would be turn off. Had we known we could have planned for this huge inconvenience. I'm a senior on disability and cannot take this heat! This is cruel and could have been done at night when we're sleeping and it's cooler. Shame on Duke Energy and Spectrum. Which I do not have Spectrum but have to suffer because of them.

Ok I’m 66, I’ve owned many homes in Florida. Now I’m renting a small apartment. I turned OFF my hot water heater, & water cooler two months ago. I keep AC at 75 during day. TV not on until 4pm. No dishwasher use. But my bill is ESCALATING. They are cheating. If I call I get a marginally trained young person who couldn’t determine watts from applesauce. There is no help. I’m livid. They just cheat. They are forever trying to sell you things. On their tips and tricks they suggest randomly giving water heater a power down & less AC. WELL MY HOTWATER HEATER IS OFF!!!! For some perspective I owned a condo in Miami for over a decade, had FPL & my bill for a little less square footage was $65 monthly. I’m way over $100 with no hot water heater, water cooler machine or dishwasher ever running.

I have excellent credit and they have the gall to charge me $180 to use them that I have to pay in 2 installments. Had FPL for years and always paid on time before bill was even due. Never had to pay a fee like that. I dislike this so called company intensely, their customer service (if you can call it that) is beyond lackluster, their billing procedures are horrible (can't even get a monthly paper bill in the mail), customer service reps that I dealt with exemplify what not to be and and overall they suck.

What experience? They came out. They said no and left. Haven’t heard from Duke. No show no call. You shouldn’t send linemen out with a boom truck to do underground lines. They don’t even have shovels. Said engineering would have to come out. Hello still waiting.

Had a small amount of rain and service has been out for 6 hours. This is the second time in two weeks. The first time we literally had a few drops of rain. They should not be in this business. Oh, I wish we had TECO. Total incompetence.

I recently called about a return of payment on my account, apparently I accidently chose the wrong account and they decided to not only return the payment, shut off service but then email me saying they are going to charge a 30 dollar fee. I called to rectify this simple mistake but their hands are tied and are unable to do anything apparently. Might as well have an A.I. if that is the kind of service you provide for struggling families.

Here are the Issues. DUKE-ENERGY charges a Minimum Usage FEE. Which means if you have solar panels and do not use enough DUKE provided Power, they will add an Additional "minimum usage fee" which equates to the difference from what is charged to you to make the amount at LEAST $30. DUKE-ENERGY and potentially OTHERS Require that you have a "GENERAL LIABILITY" Insurance Policy on your House. Which costs at least $700+ a year for a policy, which they REQUIRE. (If you do not get the policy, they will shut off your SOLAR and make them worthless...and then charge you normal power costs.) Duke-Energy and anyone who is pushing Solar Panels are feeding the problem. Your house does NOT add any value for having Solar Panels, when selling your house, a buyer will run into all kinds of issues getting homeowners insurance, and then trying to get a General Liability Policy.

Their billing is deceptive. My actual usage is around 150 a month, never over 200, for two years, but with their quarterly "budget" plan, my bill is now 270. I never check until now and never signed up!

I started an account with Duke Energy Florida in May 2021 and paid $500 as deposit. I paid the money through my visa card. In January 2022 the service stopped and I requested the deposit to be returned. I waited 2 months for the deposit to be returned checking my visa card account each month. There was no refund. It has been a year now and I haven't received my deposit. I called the customer service 5-6 time over this period of time, spending many hours making the calls and waiting for the agent. The answers I received are the following:

I have been a Duke customer for 14 years now - SO they have gotten more than $50,000 from me. I added solar to my home and now they implement a $30 minimum bill saying, "this is to make it fair for all customers." What a crock. This minimum bill was created to directly discourage Solar installations... in "the sunshine state"! And don't be fooled by their "CLEAN ENERGY CONNECTION" program aka CEC. These solar farms they boast are not built on wastelands, they are built in places where there is ecosystems. They are now shading an area that hasn't been shaded and creating a "carbon footprint."

My Bill has been around 200$ for years with budget billing. Now it is 300$ and they offer No explanation other than I am using more energy. I am the only one in my house and nothing has changed other than my bill going up. I asked if they would check my meter, they said, "No, it is not a mechanical issue." How can they have a monopoly in Florida? I am retired on a budget and cannot afford a increase in my bill. Is there No other avenue other than paying the bill?

I came home after hurricane Ian came through, flooded my house. My belongings that were close to the floor were Destroyed. My life was consumed with Insurance companies, fema, what to do with all my property that was destroyed, what to do with my home, finding a hotel to stay in, trying to find a car. It was a horrible adventure I would rather not live again, the moral of this story is I called Duke Energy about 30 days too late for them to help me. They said because I didn't call right away they were not Going to help me with the $37 they're charging me when I could no longer live there and no one was there running any power. I want everyone to know this is a company with no heart. They don't care about the little people who have been in danger and hurt like me.

I would honestly give it 0 stars if I could. Due to Hurricane Ian we've been out of power since Wednesday, it is now Sunday and they haven't done anything at all! My poor animals are hot and miserable as are the rest of us. They've been changing dates of when our power is supposed to be back on, yet they keep delaying.

I had an account with Duke Energy for sometimes, on and off, due to the fact that I was a residential customer first then as a landlord. Today, I got a bill from Duke Energy Florida for about 10 days of service between tenants and wanted to pay it off online. First, the email sent the bill as an attachment and asked me to open it with my account number as password (the account number was clear text on the email, you kidding me, that's your security measure?). Okay, I entered the account number as prompted, but not, it said it was invalid password. So the bill could not be opened.

Duke Energy gross profit for the twelve months ending June 30, 2022 was $18.800B!!! Read that again. Every month I receive a disconnect notice, added to text messaging for the pending shut off date. I call this fear mongering, when in fact it seems to me that Duke Energy is gouging it's customers with double digit increases. When an energy bill doubles within a year, there is great cause for concern. Duke Energy has done a very good job for justifying the reasons why these increases that are passed on to the customer are needed. I call **, and a good job for snowing everyone through their pr campaign. Their website encourages customers to seek outside help through other agencies to help pay the bill - this in itself raises all kinds of red flags ... While Duke's profits are in the billions. This business practice deserves a class action suit, this is a monopoly that needs government intervention at the very least.

We have been a customer of Duke Energy for years. Our power flickers which is very harmful to our appliances and electronics. This happens regularly - several times a day is not unusual. We have another power outage today for a few hours. This happens every 3 to 4 weeks on a regular basis. The service is, in other words, quite terrible.

I bought my house in Nov2021 from a previous owner where solar panels and system is installed from 2017. After home is closed, spoke to Duke on phone about account transfer and they said since I am new owner of house credits on solar won’t be transferred and I have to build them over the years again, I found this okay then I asked how do I build, was said they build from now and all I had to do was account transfer and was said initial months would be billed as I will have 0 credits.

Snowbird in Florida for the last 20 years so I shut my power of when I leave Florida but now I have to pay 30.00 per month as a minimum charge. Totally abusive but I have no choice. They really don't care about their customers. They have total control over us... Very abusive attitude... They had a seasonal rate before but now it's pay whether you use it or not...How can they justify 30/month?

We called to start our new electric service. We wanted to put in my wife's name and she speaks English well but when person on phone heard my wife she insisted on using an interpreter and ignored our questions and would not let me her husband who will also be on the account talk for her even though she gave her permission to talk to me. Duke needs to hire people who are not aggressive but are patient and kind.

I NEVER go on sites and complain about service but this is getting ridiculous. They constantly have their equipment go “offline” and our community suffers. I work from home and having to rely on a company with the amount of problems they have is unacceptable. If I could give them 0 stars I would. The lack of efficiency and effort put in to get repairs done is a timely manner is also very alarming. I have gone hours without power and I don’t live in the middle of nowhere!!! If you move to Florida, be careful what area you live in. I am luckily moving to a different county soon and will have a different Electric Company.

I can't help but be outraged that Duke Energy has found a way to nullify my investment in clean energy. Not even a year after having my panels installed this "minimum fee" of $30 regardless of how much power you produce shows up. This is pure greed and should be a crime being that they are the only option.

The people are not trained. They always give you the wrong info. Very sad we have to deal with them, people are knocking mine door claiming they work with Duke Energy, I try to get license plates but they always waking, file a complaint, but nobody stops all the scammers.

I set up a service, never received the paper bill. Was set up on their new pilot online communication program which failed as I never received a bill. I only received some marketing communication. They never sent me a bill and I closed the account as it was a rental unit and the tenant took the account over. Next thing I know there is a creditor and my information was posted as a negative on my credit. Duke never did anything to correct this. I spoke to several people and they say they will get back and escalate it and they never do. I just spoke with someone named Ashley and she was so rude and put me on hold on purpose just to annoy me.

I had service transferred to me in November. On both the December and January bills they "estimated" the reading to have not changed at all. As a result there is no charge for actual electric usage. Because of this, they are charging me for a $30 minimum use charge. I would not have to pay that charge if they accurately reviewed my meter and put the actual usage in. At some point they will actually read the meter and charge me for all of the electrical usage I have used, but in the meantime they will be collecting these fees which is actually just stealing money from me.

After months of advising customers they will be installing a new computer program (last year) and now there is more outrages with the new program! Today 01/23/2022 another emergency repair with no notice! This is one of many problems Duke Energy just keeps putting big bandages on. Here is another problem ,our line feeds thru a area where racoons or animals able to reach lines and chew thru causing line to shut down time after time! Would it be better to trim back brush?

Duke Energy mistakenly reported my account to collections. My credit has been ruined for 6 years and the collection company that has the file won’t even do written correspondence. They are unprofessional, can’t make outgoing calls, and make false promises they refuse to put in writing. Duke Energy has done nothing to remedy the situation. I have disputed through the credit bureaus and Duke continues to say the debt is valid. I am out of recourses and this giant company refuses to even let me speak to a manager.

Power outage after lightning around 6:30 pm, on their app they reported services will be back 10 pm. It is 12:17 am and no services established yet. I doubt they can provide proper services on a worse event.

Don't waste your money in Duke's home wiring repair essential. They do not respond to a claim for the service for which I pay for, called many times and they have told me that some electric company was going to call me but never happened.

My mother and Stepfather were both in the ICU in 2 different hospitals with Covid. My daughter also got the Covid while visiting them and ended up having to quarantine alone at their house. I asked my daughter to try to find all their utility bills so I could pay them. She screenshot shot me the Duke Energy bill on the night of the 20th. The bill said it was due on the 20th.. $258.00. I was going to call them the next morning to call Duke and let them know what was going on and I was going to pay it. My daughter called me panicked first thing in the morning to tell me they shut off the electric. They didn’t even wait a day! I called them to let them know what was going on and they didn’t care. I had to pay the bill immediately if I wanted the electric back on. It’s Florida and 100 degrees.

I’ve had service with Duke for years and never a fan but this takes the cake. They are trying to charge me another deposit while my account currently holds a deposit. Not legal! Then I had identity stolen and have fraud alert on my credit. They are asking me to REMOVE my ONLY safeguard to my credit and lasts 7 yrs plus. You gotta be kidding me! Every small issue or any issue Duke plods along not caring if I have power and I’m 100% disabled war veteran. Makes me ill.

I called support yesterday and left a message for them to call me back. It has been 24 hours and no call. I have also sent two emails to their support and no response. I wonder when I'll hear from their claim support?

Our energy got shut off Monday morning and when we called, they said they were going to turn it back up the next day noon. The next day, they told us 3 times they were going to turn it on at three different times, and the power WASN'T turned on for any of those times. We called them and they said they will send a technician AFTER 7 (when their customer service get off work) and when we got back at 10, the power was never turned on. Now we’re left with no electricity - no air conditioning, lighting and can’t even charge our phone. All this company provided with us is broken promises.

I have 2 complaints.

I've had Duke for years in my first apartment and never had a problem, it was honestly perfect even when my mate moved out they made it super easy to switch accounts. And then I moved into a new house and they wanted $500 to just turn the power on. Then an extra $25 connection fee, and then made us pay an extra bill for some reason that wasn't even linked to any previous property I had. We don't even live in the house and they were telling us that our monthly payments have to be at least $250. I really regret moving to Florida and ever meeting this company after today. They're just a rip off just like Orange County Utilities.

Duke Energy are straight thieves and the most unethical company I have dealt with in my life, I moved into a brand new smart home and initially my electric bill ran 295-305 a month for a almost 3000 sq foot home, so when they sent me a mailer about a energy efficient plan and they would do a review and lock me into a rate every month I said yes thinking it would be lower than what I had been paying for over a half a year, so they come back with 305 a month not much of a savings!

Worst customer service in the world, I have recently been trying to set up my electric and for a week I’ve got multiple excuses with nobody knowing what’s going on and nobody giving reasons to why they can’t get out and turn service on a new address.

While customer service is great, great, actual service is horrible. I have lived in my current home for almost a year and this is the first time I've ever had Duke Energy. I have a minimum of 1-2 power outages since I've been here. I'm in the middle of town, not out in the woods! In the previous 6 years, I had WREC for power service and had maybe 2 or 3 outages at most in over a year. Again, here, with Duke and in the last 9 months, I have at least 1-2 outages per month. It's ridiculous! Do something to strengthen your equipment or something! I am a very unsatisfied and if I had the option to change providers, I would do so in a heartbeat.

I switch to solar trying to save money but Duke never give me the credit that I have to receive after my system produce. I have 32 panels /320w and they always said that have back to the grid 400 kw and my production is 1200kw min a month. Duke is stealing everybody.

Duke Energy is as crooked as can be. If we had a choice we would chose another company. Unfortunately we do not! We were warned about them... our bill was $120 more than the month before and we were only home for 15 day. IMPOSSIBLE!

I have lived at my residence for 10+ years and I’ve never had an electric bill over $150. Even in the hot summer months. My husband & I are EXTREMELY energy/electricity usage conscious & we have always taken measures to keep our energy cost lower than the average homeowner. Our average bill is always close to or under $100 until recently. I understand electric bills are higher in the summer & I’m aware inflation is inevitable but these past two months, our bill has been well over the normal dollar amount. One was $190 and the next was $220.

Updated on 08/07/2020: Well today has been a month since I filed a complaint with Duke Energy. They turned me over to Sedgwick that handles claims for them. I was given a claim number and told someone would be in touch with us. On 7/20 we hadn't heard from anyone. I called back and was told that Natalie was our examiner and they transferred me to her. It went into her voice mail. I left a detailed message. On 7/24 we still hadn't heard back from her. So on 7/24 since no one returned our calls I called again. I finally talked with Sheila. I explained everything to her. She was very understanding.

I have been a customer for over 20 years and have had numerous residents never late with my payments. I am currently unemployed for over a year now and I also ended up getting Covid. I called after setting up service in my new place and asked them to waive the connection fee of $28 due to my circumstances. They denied me! I wish I did not have to use Duke in my area.

I am paying additional money every month, for interior wire repair by Duke Power. I called in March 2020 for issues, and again now mid-May 2020: They refuse to come out until ALL Covid-19 bans by State of Florida be lifted. We are now at all essential businesses open: electric is essential. But Duke Power won't let their sub-contractors come out to do repairs.

I was overcharged $1000 in less than a year! I have all documentation to prove. After I finally PAID my way out of this horrid experience my bill went back to $68 for the month of February. My new “budget billing” rate for the 3 months was going to be $151 per month (every 3 months they change rate). I was constantly told that I would see a significant reduction every 3 months but it never happened! I was charged, basically 2-3 times last year's bills and this year I didn’t have a roommate! I have written an expose but I am still collecting data. If anyone has any POSITIVE thoughts on budget billing I haven’t heard them.

Ever since my electricity meter was replaced with a Smart Meter, my consumption, as reported in the billing statement is consistently 400% higher than actual, as displayed on the meter itself. Clearly, there is an error in Duke's data processing and for two months I have been chasing them, demanding a correction, but to no avail. Perhaps they should operate in Africa rather than the US. The worst experience with a public utility in my entire (70 years) life. The public utilities commission should investigate and check for fraud or negligence... DG, Debary, Florida

We just moved to Winter Park, FL and Duke is our provider. When we activated service, Dec 16th, 2019, they said it’s a $210 deposit to start. First of all that’s an outrageous amount, and deposit for what anyways?? So we took the option to split it in two payments. $105 would be added to first bill, and $105 to second bill and the bill would be due around the 15th. However, this morning Jan 15th, 2020, woke up to a text message saying service will be disconnected unless we pay the past due $105 which they said was past due since Jan 3rd. The first person who signed us up gave us the wrong information and now scrambling to pay $105 before they disconnect our service. Horrible start!

Is amazing to see how the bill change every month when 2 people living in the home and we consume same energy every month, kWh, change every single month, same consume every month, different bill, stay away from this company, ohh before I forget! Stay away from Budget. Billing, is a big joke.

Big fraud in Duke HVAC plans. I paid for two years with no claims and as soon as I need to actually get something fixed, they tell me my unit is out of warranty and therefore not covered. Well if it was under warranty then I wouldn’t need Duke. They say $5000 in coverage but really only cover a couple hundred dollars of electrical hardware. And they will not replace any units. So don’t waste your time with Duke. It will just upset you. Get a real home warranty that actually covers your home instead of just the front door if you know what I mean. It’s just not worth it. And then to make it all really sting, they told me “it’s in the fine print.” So you all know exactly what that means.... Duke cannot be trusted...

I live in a condo/apartment complex outside of Haines City, Fl. We are always losing our power and then it takes hours to get it back. It just failed again; weather is fine, no storms, it's in the daytime, basically no real excuse for it to fail, as usual. Duke Energy must know by now why it goes out so often but they don't do anything to fix it permanently. Since they claim it only affects 42 customers. I guess they figure is it's not worth the trouble, which is probably also why their response is so slow.

Not 100% sure how to explain it but after the install I have to hire an electrical contractor to repair the jaws in my electric panel so I have 100% power. Currently the power come and goes. Duke advised that if I would sign up for their maintenance plan at $5.00 dollars per month I would would receive a 15% discount off the repair bill but after that it would be at at no cost. Sounds like a racket. The meter has been replaced before and no electrical grease/lube was used for the install and the company did not use any this time either. The Duke tech advised that there was corrosion. Go figure.

Called them today and told them my husband abandoned me and my kids. Called Duke to tell them and take it out of my name. They point blank told me nope. I said I'm not liable for this bill and he said oh well and I said, "You can't make me responsible for this bill." He said, "Well you use the power dontcha?" I said, "Yes but I want out of his name and into mine." He said with rude voice nope my social security number and name is nowhere on the bill. I was listed as info only and he continued to say nope!! So now I dont have the money to pay and he said, "Well cut off is Monday." I begged to give me another week. He said nope!!!

Be aware that Duke charges all customers $9.66/month for 'rental' of their equipment and the cost of reading the meter. Even if you use minimal amounts of electricity, you will be charged this exploitative fee on top of your bill, which is already jacked up. In addition, they are imposing so-called 'smart meters' on customers, despite health warnings that have led states with more alert and health-conscious legislators than Florida to ban them. You can pay $95 + $15/month to keep the standard meters. This will be prohibitive for many who are living on social security.

I had a home energy audit last summer. We spent a lot of money doing EVERYTHING that the Duke Energy Guy said to do...more insulation, new ductwork, installed $$$$ shutters over the skylights to keep the sun out, AND keep the thermostat at 80 DEGREES (Yep 80 Degrees). Our bill is 220/month. More than $100 than ANYONE ELSE LIVING IN THIS AREA. I told Duke something was wrong with the meter. DUKE said..."Not possible. The meters are perfect and we don't have that problem." Well nothing is "perfect" except GOD. God will be glad to know that the Duke Energy meters are right up there with HIM at HIS level.

Auto pay through my bank, all of a sudden stopped working.. no email, call, any notification causing my medical clinic to go dark. Now have many unhappy patients that had to reschedule. Lost money. Thanks to incompetent company. Now charged a deposit, plus reconnect fee over a terrible software design on Duke. Do not use this company if possible.

My power was shut off because they didn't receive my payment. I was charged a reconnecting fee. I spent hours with customer service who sounded like they were reading from a script. This is a monopoly. Very inept managers. Worst corporate management I've ever experienced.

Before I sold my house in Orlando I called them to inform them and they assured me not to be worried in the case I get billed because all bills had been satisfied. So imagine my surprise when 6-7 months down the line I receive a notification that my credit has plummet nearly 100 points. Frantic, I call Experian, and all major credit bureaus and they tell me I’ve been reported to collections to a company by the name of Helvey & Associates whom of which, is currently on the front page of Lemberg Law telling people that have been harassed, or dealt with this company to call them.

Thoroughly and completed DISGUSTED with this company! What other corporation prevents you from speaking directly to corporate headquarters when you have a legitimate complaint about a subsidiary? None other than "PUKE" Energy, folks! I've never seen such poor public relations practice by a corporation in my LIFE - ever. Their CEO (Lynn Good) is too snobbish and feels she's too "good" to address a customer complaint personally. One would think, after all the complaints and trouble they've been in with the Federal government, that they would make customer service and satisfaction a priority - what a farce. If and when my community ever changes their power service from "Puke" Energy, I for one will be glad - and I cannot wait. I've had it with these jerks!

Duke Energy went out to a property I own due a bad neutral. I told them to drive along the property line to get to the pole. They drove right over the drain field for my septic then never even trimmed the tree back.

Electricity cut out and I see a guy with a yellow west walking away from my house, so I immediately jumped on the phone and contacted Duke Energy to see why my power went out. A lady on the phone looked up my account and said, oh, I see your payment didn't go through and it just was processed today plus it's gonna be another $40 to reconnect the service.

I sold my house back in 2018 in Orlando, FL and I called Duke Energy to advise that I was no longer going to own the house as I was selling it. The energy had been shut off for almost two months as there were no tenants occupying it. Ever. They had told me "not to worry about it." In the case I do have an outstanding balance, they'll send it via email or mail (by law they have to). A couple months down the line, I get phone calls from suspicious numbers telling me to verify my social security number as they have personal information and they're not to release anything unless. I confirm I am who they say I am. I promptly hang up because I do not recognize what association this is nor do they state who they are. With the amount of ongoing automated calls, it's becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate what calls are important and what calls are not.

I recently became a customer of Duke Energy, not knowing that they have a billing portal with RealPage Utility Management. When OUC is the provider. I really do not care who manages their accounts, except when I am being charged for their services. My water usage charge was $6.47 for January, and a $19.08 charge for RealPage Utility Management services. How do I know that is what the charge is for? Because I called the company, RealPage Utility and they explained what the charges were.

It ridiculous how my entire house is run on electricity but I'm being charged fuel charges so I'm basically paying double. It's all a scam. When I was with Con Edison I was charged electric and gas. That's it, not the "fuel" they use to run my electric. It's ridiculous. Also we have no choice of our energy provider. IT'S A MONOPOLY! They own the entire area. Nevermind the deposit they don't return, if anything if your bill goes up they charge more towards your deposit. They suck. I miss Con Ed.

My power was shut off with little to no warning after I had already mailed a check. I called immediately at 10am when it happened and paid the balance of $79 which was just about 2 weeks overdue. Until this issue I have never been late and had no balance due. Not only did I not receive a call or notice aside from 1 email but my power was shut off for the entire day because the tech was not in the area. They have no problem shutting people’s power off in the Florida heat but take their good old time getting it back on. I find it ridiculous to cut someone’s power with minimal warning and only 2 weeks late with a balance not even over $80. Had someone called I would’ve told them the check was in the mail. Horrible business practice to leave people with kids and dogs without power all day after that pay. Just a lousy way to operate. Shame on them.

My grandmother owes a back bill 1481. I told him that I will pay the 1481. They said the deposit at 6:30. I asked him if they could work in the bill, they said yes. Now they want her to pay another additional 718 because they cut the power off due to non-payment. So my brother before he went to jail he rented a room to a couple, they put the light bill in the boyfriend name. They didn't make a payment on it but now my grandmother is stuck paying their bill too which I think is totally unfair. We're trying to make things right and pay her old back bill that before my brother went to jail. He left her in debt. Duke Energy says I could go ahead and pay the 1481 at first but now they're changing it and saying that we are supposed to pay the 718 on top of it which I think they should of not made anyone cut on the power in their name knowing that it had a high bill before so that is the fault of Duke Energy.

First of all, the "free online bill pay" is a laugh. There is a surcharge of at least $1.50 each time you pay. Secondly, if there is an error in an online payment at no fault of your own, they still force you to pay a returned payment fee of $30. My bank never even received the request for payment from Duke, so how can a payment be rejected? Thirdly, if a payment was not properly requested by Duke to my financial institution why is it my fault that a payment was late. They will add on a previously unneeded security deposit to your account at which point you have no choice but to pay it or have your credit score affected. In my case, these issues with their online bill payment has cost me an additional $200 dollars, of which $30 I will never be refunded. If you can avoid Duke, do so at all costs.

I have been overcharged for 3 months now. The first year of having service with this company I was charged $100 a month-reasonable. With no explanation, my bill started to gradually rise. To 130-150-170. Now my bill is $306 for a 600 ft. apartment!!! And I am on their energy saving program which states my bill should not exceed $106. I am so mad I want to sue this company for everything they're worth, they do not DESERVE to have business. My warning to you - stay farrrr away from Duke Energy of Florida.

We moved into our 1300 square ft apartment thinking the power bill couldn’t be close to what it was in our 4300 sq ft home - WRONG! The bill was higher!!! Exorbitantly higher! Not sure how this is possible! So we raise the temp to 76 during the day and 72 at night (previous day was 74 and night 70). Our bill went UP?! I don’t understand at all. We increased the temp again to 78 during the day and 74 at night! It went down by $20!!! This was beyond ridiculous! Now we turn it off during the day and on a VERY RARE occasion we turn it on at night and briefly. We never use the heat only A/C. We finally saw a drop down to $153 and even this past month it went up to $158 despite leaving the AC off all but 2 nights. These are much better than they were but we are getting out from under Duke Power and moving to another state. There is definitely corruption going on in this company.

So my Notice of Balance Due arrives in the mail. I had paid my bill approximately 8 hours late. Hmmmm. It seems extreme for them to send a Notice so quickly. I call the 1-800 number and speak to a poor sweet woman that has no clue why I’m so annoyed. I am insulted, and in my opinion for the notice to say: “If you are dissatisfied with the utility’s decision to refuse or discontinue service you may register your complaint” etc. is BULLYING! I tried to email customer service to determine why I received the notice so quickly and that was not available. How convenient!

We had our power cut the day after Christmas, it completely crossed our mind with everything else going on. The power goes off and we instantly pay it and call Duke to let them know. We also let them know we have a newborn. I get there’s nothing they can do. It’s not like we didn’t have the money. It was an honest mistake and we paid for it RIGHT after the cutoff. They could at least be a little more courteous around the holidays and give us a knock and maybe say it’s about to get cut off, heads up or something. But no. Customer service doesn’t care. Going on 9 hours with no power with an infant. Thanks for being the WORST power company. And screw Seminole county for not having another company for us to use.

Very nasty company. Even after paying bill they want to keep me in darkness for 4 days. Christmas with no power. I hate this company. Called customer service 10 times. They do not have capability to view bill on a Saturday. Must wait for four days. The nd she's are WICKED too.

This company is charged $250 to $300 per month. I change A/C thinking that was the problem and nothing, this past month I don’t using at all and my bills keep high $260. What is wrong with Duke Energy in Winter Park Fl???

When we pay our bill we pay it online. This past bill we tried paying it twice in one day and every time we submitted it - it would tell us to come back later and try it again. And when we went to view our bill it showed us we didn’t pay it. So we try the next day to pay it. Same amount is due - we go to pay it - it goes through and just tells us when our next payment for next month is. Two days later I went to use my card to get groceries and my card declined. I go to check my bank account - DUKE ENERGY CHARGED MY CARD 2 EXTRA TIMES... A EXTRA 250 dollars was taken out of my account. I look at my bill on Duke Energy and it says I’m -108. HAH.

When my roommate and I moved into our apartment, Duke Energy left us with 3, 5-9 hr blackouts within the first week. Now, our bill is going up for no reason. My real issue, though, comes with paying the bill. I paid extra for my bill to be taken out of my account when I needed it to, but instead they waited almost two weeks before withdrawing it, and SOLELY because of the same-day fee that I paid, I was overdrafted and charged additional fees by my bank. And you know what? This isn’t even the first time. This place still has the audacity to charge me more and more every month, though. This is by far the worst customer service I have ever seen.

I have been a long time customer of Duke Energy (Progress Energy) at my current address for 11 years, and for some 20 years prior, at other addresses, and have NEVER had a hiccup, missed payment, disconnect, etc. Well due to a banking change, and misinformation by Duke, they shut off my power, while my kids were sleeping and just after my wife and I left for work (convenient timing I might add) about 2 months ago...

My bill has increased by 50% with no explanation. I am unable to contact anyone in customer service to address my concerns. My use is the same as last year. However the cost has doubled for the same usage. I have a 3/2 no pool 3 people in the home, gas water heater and my electric bill is $500 dollars. Duke has been unresponsive.

Recently moved from Hillsborough County to Pasco County. All the years I lived in Hillsborough County, my electric bill has never been more than $120 with TECO. When I called to have my service turned on, I was told the bill payment history of previous owners to be between 100 - 200. Given the size of the house, I figured the history is fair. I was shocked when I received my first bill from Duke Energy for $336 for 3 weeks of service. I called to complain. The customer service told me maybe I was running both heat and cooling at the same time. So in March I changed the thermostat without auto to have better control of the A/C temperature. The lowest bill I've received so far is for $139 within five months of moving to this area. I've called several times to complain that the meter is not been read correctly. All I've received is unsatisfy answers.

In April I received an email from Arcadia Power who I had been paying my electric bill to for years stating Duke shut them out of my account so I followed their instructions and was told by Duke it went back to normal, me paying Arcadia and they pay Duke. Since my payment was automatically paid I didn't know I needed to check Duke's words until I received a termination notice if I didn't 't pay my bills. I never received any bills and requested them on June 20th. I still do not have them even after they called me again (Antonio **). I WANT TO PAY MY BILLS!

My house was finished May 17. I have been waiting for Duke to connect my power since then. I called today and was told my order had been dispatched three days ago and would be connected today but by 6pm I still had no power. There was not a cloud in the sky from 9am until 1pm so bad weather cannot be an excuse. I am going to end up having to pay a mortgage payment on my new house plus rent on the house I am currently living in because they will not come connect us. I am so exasperated dealing with this company.

I'm frustrated beyond belief over the billing issue I'm having with Duke Energy, not to mention I can't even choose to go elsewhere since this monopoly of a company is the only power company available in my location. In November 2017, I called to transfer my service, as I was relocating from one apartment complex to another to be closer to a new job. The man I spoke to seemed very confused about what I was trying to do and at one point said he was "confirming" my request to stop service for an address and start new service for that same address the following day...

Duke is the only power company that is available to me. I have no complaints regarding Duke, the bills are accurate, the rates are reasonable, and they offer budget billing which is a great feature.

They have been guesstimating my power usage without physically checking my meter... They told me at one time they were short staffed in field. I know this because I haven't been living there... I own it. But water heater/fridge/air... everything has been off for almost 3 months and numbers on meter are way diff. I took pictures... bill numbers. Big diff. I told them... "Don't give me another $100 bill." They adjusted once by 140 off after I caught them... Same at my fiance. His meter was totally down... Off... but they bill until I called. Said, "Hey, new meter." They said, "We'll adjust his..." Haven't yet.

My puppy literally ate my electric bill, check & envelope. I tried to pay online but I don't know my account number since it's currently in my puppy's stomach (& I suspect it will be illegible when it reappears). I was on the line for 14 minutes before anyone picked up. The person was pleasant but no one should have to wait that long.

During hurricane Irma this year and we lost power...the system was horrible... Couldn't get anyone a human on phone. Automated system gave out wrong info. Hopefully they fix it for next hurricane season.

No policy to provide energy to disabled people who need oxygen-based machines during power outages; continually using rolling brown-outs and they have many power surges every month; couldn't find the downed feeder line after Hurricane Irma that was in my neighbor's backyard. We had no power for 7 days... the same line went down the year before with Matthew. They are idiots. They keep solar power in the grid so solar also loses power during outages.

When there are power outages (which are fairly common in Florida due to storms and weather conditions), the company is quick in restoration. They also offer solutions for your home to help you save on your utilities. They also offer classes to consumers to assist in saving on your utilities.

I have had no problems with Duke Energy. They are responsive with power outages & always keep you informed at your request. My bill is consistent as I am on budget billing.

We went through hurricane Irma. Even though we were one of the last counties in FL to have electricity restored, Duke kept us updated (we had to flee due to my father not being able to survive without power) by FB & their website, which was very helpful.

They are a fairly new company to this area, and so far, they are doing a decent, although not quite good enough job at this point, time will tell, and we shall see.

They are just like any other energy company. They just keep raising the rates with no explanation. They give you all these excuses why the rates go up. Although in all fairness they did get the power back pretty fast here in Citrus County FL. Then when I got the first bill after the hurricane it is raised $16.

On a regular basis the electric goes out just long enough to knock out and re-start everything in our home. Those re-starts I know increase the monthly cost of our electric bill.

My Duke Energy bill was late by 2 weeks. I get another bill with a due date and amount due reflecting the past due plus current due. I assume this means I can pay on due date indicated in the notice. In total I owed 235.00. It's not very high for 2 months. Well, they shut me off even though I wasnt warned or anything! They mislead me with their bill. No mention of turning off. I pay the bill plus reconnect fee (40.00).

Twice now I've had issues with Duke and their billing and payments. I signed up for their auto pay, budget billing program, in order for each payment to be the same without fluctuating month to month. When we switched to this, I was told that my next payment would come out in two weeks. They failed to mention that an additional payment would be taken that same day. Strike one in my book. Now, I was trying to switch my payment method be for a payment due on the 27th, only to find out that a posted draft was executed on the 22nd, a full 5 days before said payment was scheduled to come out. Apparently, they just post a payment whenever they feel like it, due to holidays or whatever criteria they use. Granted, it hasn't actually come out of the account yet, but because it's posted, there's nothing I can do to fix it. No warning, no update, just posted without any communication or chance to change it.

This is not about the Irma 5 day outage. Back in July they had a 15 hour power outage and I had to throw the contents of my fridge/freezer. I filed a claim and I just got an answer denying my claim, because "they are not liable because due to cause beyond their control". 1449 customers were affected, come to find out they found an underground primary power cable which failed due to adverse weather.

I signed up for auto pay for my Duke Energy account. Easy and convenient, well it wasn't. Finally after several attempts to enter my banking info it took my info and I was all set. Until today, I was notified that the payment was returned by my bank. Of course the first thing I did was check my bank account and enough funds were there. I called Duke customer service, that was an adventure. After 5 minutes of pressing 0000 a rep came on the line. A very rude young lad named Ryan, he informed me that I made an incorrect keystroke causing the return, he then proudly informed me that I would be charged a $30 return fee. What the??? For making a mistake of course I lost my temper and Ryan hung up on me. I called Duke again and made a credit card payment with a $2.20 convenience fee. Once again the consumer is screwed by corporate control. Can't switch. They're the only game in town, and I don't want to watch TV by candlelight.