Tampa Electric Reviews

I called to have my electric turned on weeks before I moved in. I received a bill and was charged $50.00 for not setting up my account. I called from our leasing office and found out TECO made an error on my profile, not adding my apartment number. I was told if I paid I wouldn't have my electric turned off and I'd see a credit. Now, not only are they saying I cannot get a credit they also say they don't see where I paid it. Worthless customer service.

I paid my bill online with a current check to me everything was fine. I never got a confirmation in my email about me submitting the payment which was weird to me. After 4 days Tampa sending me an email about my check was returned because of not enough refund. I contacted my bank. I was told that there was no check submitted and that there was no reason for the bank to return it since I had enough funds in my account. Teco charged me $30.00 more for an imaginary check return. This is outrageous. In which country are we and what century!!!!? Beside all that, hardly anybody is talking about this company. The newspaper needs to take care of this abusive business. Nobody is above the law. I talked to a lot of residents and everybody is hurt from this monster. This is the home of the Brave and the Tea Party Heroes. Enough already!!!!

My gf left me at the end of the month. I was catching up on bills had TECO draft the payment out of my ACH account. They took a whole week from the due date to attempt to take the funds out. The day they tried my debit card was stolen and TECO send me a mail the following day saying I'm being charged a check bounce feed due to my account being frozen. I contacted TECO, customer service was rude as usual. I've been catching up on paying them for the last two months then they disconnected my power even though I had an e-bill saying my new bill was due on the 12th. Now I have to pay a reconnect fee... I have paid over 250+ $$$ in the last 3 months for service that is for a 1 bedroom apartment... Now they want me to pay an extra 60 dollars for a deposit, because my bill equals out to more the 2 months of service... I can't wait till my lease is up and I don't have to deal with this Comcast version of electric...

I live on a very tight budget, am a single mom with two children, and working two jobs. I'm very busy and, in a rush, accidentally paid a bill twice. I realized it immediately and called the next day since I assumed it would take some time to process in their system. I explained what happened to the rep and also explained my circumstances, and needed them to issue me a refund for the second payment as I had other household expenses, such as groceries, that I needed the money for. I was flatly denied. The representative told me that they did not issue refunds, only credits. Is this legal? Do they not have an obligation to return my overpayment when requested? Isn't that a violation of servicing laws?

I'm 22 years old. This is my first time EVER moving out and turning on my electric. I called Friday 4/22/2016 with Customer Service. The lady was decent with talking with me, but after hearing the automated voice message tell me that my account number that she gave me is not recognized, I began to wonder if she even did anything at all during our time on the phone.

I am a small business owner with TECO. We have 2 buildings side by side with 2 separate meters. One account is on AutoPay and the other has to be paid in cash at a payment center. We try to not waste paper so our bills are emailed to us and then one comes out on AutoPay and the other does not. We had a final notice for the one not on AutoPay. I paid it the day before the cutoff date at 4:30 pm in cash and I have my receipt that clearly states there is no need to contact them with the receipt number as it will automatically update in their system. The next day I was at my business with clients present when the tech showed up to cut off the power. I told him I had the receipt. I had to get it. He refused to wait and was very rude and said I shouldn't wait till the last minute to pay my bill. He then told me to contact them when I had my receipt and he would come back and turn on.

TECO is the worst company ever. Similar to the person who reviewed before me, we have been having issues with their website. We always pay our bills on time, and saw that they have been rejecting our payments the past 3 times. We tried paying them every single different option they had, however they kept denying our payment for some reason. They would not tell us why the payment was rejected every time. We call them and wait on hold for hours, and never reach any type of conclusion. When we finally spoke to someone they said we are "locked out" of the account and have to pay CASH for the next YEAR! Who pays cash? Who has to go to AMSCOT and shady payment locations to pay for a bill???

My family and I have lived in six different states (my husband's job) in the past 11 years and Tampa Electric (TECO) is the absolute WORST electric company I have ever had the displeasure of using. Living in this, FL, there is no other choice for your electric service and TECO knows it thereby not caring one bit about how they treat you, their customers. I have had several issues trying to set auto-pay with them and had a couple of returned payments all because of them but we had to suffer. Even though I had a limit on how much they could take out on the auto pay, they went ahead and tried to take out more resulting in a returned payment.

The power goes out here every time it rains. We have brownouts in nice weather. A while back ago, I reported our power went out at 1 in the afternoon. At midnight, I made a second report. The operator called back and wanted me to walk across our dead end dirt road property in the rain in the pitch black to look at my pole. She insisted we had power. When I refused, she said if it is on our side, they couldn't help us. I had already explained to her we were in contact with neighbors who also did not have power and our streetlights were also out. They hadn't sent anyone out the entire day to investigate the issue until I really argued with this woman. It took 11 hours before they decided to even look at our power outage. In the end, their equipment had been damaged by the weather.

Bogus Fees. Monopoly to the fullest and doesn't care because nobody holds them accountable for their actions. I guess if there are no other options for customers, they have no incentive or motivation to do better. It's so frustrating to have to give my money to this level of incompetence and terrible customer service. TECO's Automated phone system and website is completely dysfunctional. It seems the only way to guarantee they receive my payment without going to a store is by using the "Just Pay It" option, which charges you $5 to pay your bill. This system as a whole is an embarrassment and huge inconvenience to the residents of this city. Another example of a company taking advantage of its market share and screwing its customers, why are they allowed to continue without the City of Tampa taking action against them?

I first submitted a request, via email, to tech to have service transferred from my former roommate's name to mine. This was 9/21 and I received a response right away asking me for my last address and legal last name so they could verify my identity through Equifax. After my reply I heard nothing for over a week. I had to reach out to them again and received an email telling me it's critical that I contact Equifax. Calling Equifax was a nuisance in itself. I do not care for blindly calling phone numbers, speaking to unidentified people and providing everything they could possibly need to steal my identity. At the end of which I was given no confirmation and just told to call Teco (as if I have 30 minutes during their ridiculous business hours to sit on hold). I emailed them on 10/1 to confirm I had verified my identity with the unidentified people, and was notified 10/3 my account had been verified.

This company MUST be audited by government entity or any independent firm, due to their suspicious policy created to protect their fraud business model. First off regardless of your credit background you must pay a Deposit of $165.00, and in addition they play dump having you use payment method through a convenience fee, which should NOT be forced, instead of accepting traditional Check or eCheck methods of payments. Second customer service is miserable, incompetent, and they expect you to know everything, whereas customers expect guidance. If there were other electric provider in our neighborhood I would have never become their customer. Someone has to act quickly to protect people from this monopoly, fraud, and awful electric provider.

Please be aware that these degenerates that work for this company will have you on hold most of the day only to be disconnected when an employee is finally available or to go through all of your personal information. MAKE SURE YOU GET THEIR NAME AND ID#!!! WARNING!! WARNING!!! 9 out of 10 times, it does not get put in your name on the first shot, and if your apartment is like mine, then you will be fined $50-$100/mo for TECO's screw up!!! Do not take their word that they will contact your upper management!! Make sure to get your reference number and file it in a safe place because there will be a time when you need to know what idiot you spoke with since they all play DUMB!

I call TECO at least once a month to connect a service to a rental unit for tenants. On average it's a 20-30 minute hold. Sometimes I'm on hold for 1 hour. I also deal with Duke Energy who have wait times of 2 minutes. MAJOR difference. Have issues logging into my only account after they deleted all my automatic payments on my accounts. Website is very uninformative. What information do I need to have ready when I finally get through to a representative? If you need to connect a service DON'T use their online service. It takes 1-2 weeks to get everything happening. If you ring them and are willing to wait 20+ minutes on the phone they can usually connect your services within 24 hours. One positive is they are very fast at connections.

I requested service on 09/17/2015, sent all the documents and received confirmation and account number. I thought service has been transferred. After a week, I got call from customer care that I need to send them documents again, so I did that as well. I needed to make online payment at the end of the month and I had problem in registering so called for support. At that time I found out that the account was never been transferred to my name and is still on apartment owner's name!

Well started my service with Teco in March so 3 months. Well needless to say the service is horrible... Dep was 170. Monthly bills have been no more than 140 this month. I received a bill for 340. That is a 200 difference so I call and they say it's my fault, which is crazy because I am using the same exact amount of electricity as usual. Maybe less. They won't come check the meter or nothing. I think it's ridiculous to have to pay that much for electricity. Something needs to be done with this money-stealing company

I relocated to Florida for work 6/2/15. I am renting a home from the homeowner and moved in this home 6/2/15. I placed the electric service transfer request online and completed the online form transferring service on 5/28/15. I received an email confirmation automatic response stating the company would get back with me in 3-5 days regarding my request. I called TECO and spoke with customer service rep to ensure service would not be interrupted. I was informed by TECO representative that the electric account was successfully transferred over. The representative asked for my social security number over the phone, along with my banking account and routing over the phone. I was told I would have to make a security deposit and I agreed to this over the phone. I was asked about paperless/online bill pay. I agreed to this service since I do all bill pay online, direct debit. I provided my email account to the representative as well.

Teco has charged me two deposits and stated the reason "because you had a late pay and disconnect at your previous address." So when I moved in our new rental, they made us pay another deposit. Totaling to a little over $700. My question to them, "If I close my account and move back out of the state of Florida, will I get any of my deposit back if there's a balance left." I'm struggling starting a new business to support my family. Which was better than sitting on unemployment after the GC I worked for lost his business.

I am in the military getting ready to move to Florida. My wife and I already bought a house about 2 months before our move. I call TECO about two weeks out from my first trip down to the new house with a U-Haul truck. I setup a new account/transfer from the old owners to my wife and I. I choose to have them check my credit and end up paying a deposit of $230. They said the account would be on and providing electricity to the property by the 15th of May. I take my trip with the U-Haul and sure enough the electricity is on.

My husband is a 100% gulf war Veteran we had another deposit due last week a lady was horrible. I talked to a supervisor named ** and she WAS AWESOME AND OMG I SO APPRECIATE HER... SHE GAVE US THE 9 DAYS WE NEEDED... THANK YOU **!!!

Paid my bill on the phone. Did not know a company called ChargeSmart is not an authorized payment method. Their web site does not state this and they will accept payments. An incorrect teco account number was entered and the payment was returned to ChargeSmart. They said they sent me an email regarding returned payment but never say an email. Tampa Electric said they receive payments all the time with incorrect numbers and they research it. However they did not mine and because ChargeSmart is not an authorized payment center they will not accept anything as proof they sent it back the next day. So I am stuck with a fifty dollar reconnect fee. Wish I could change electric companies - they are horrible.

This is the most unprofessional company I've ever dealt with. The customer service is horrible, they're rude every time we call and there is always a lengthy wait. My deposit is $275 and because I "haven't been a customer for 2 years, they will not work with us to add it to our bill." Every time we've ever called about an issue it's always been a hassle. This is the worse company ever!!

My power was turned off yesterday morning at 11:30. I live in a family member's house so I never get an actual bill, just what I owe. First off the guy who pulled the plug was extremely rude and told me that I was full of crap and needed to pay my bill. I've never been spoken to by anyone that I PAY for services. Not to mention I have a infant in the house. I was literally told 10 min before he disconnected it what I had owed... It was turned off over 100 dollars. I do pay late and that is because I do not get the bill directly and have to wait to be told what the bill is.

I received a billing letter on the 11th of Feb. Bill was sent out on the 9th of Feb. I came home from work at 7 pm On Feb 13th at 35 degree weather to find my electric had been shut off. I tried calling but of course they close at 6 pm and don't work on the weekends. I tried calling the emergency hotline and it stated there was no emergency and for me to wait for normal business hours. This is **, are my kids and I suppose to freeze due to them not working on.the weekends? I only received a bill not a final notice so what the **?

After receiving my December Billing Statement (DBS) from TECO, we discovered the amount owed had jumped 4x/5x, from the normal $70-$80/month to over $359. According to the the KWH usage had jumped from the normal @20-30KWH to a whopping over 2700KWH or, 82-85KWH/day. The same as for a small restaurant, retailing/office establishment or very, very large home. We had only been in the 1200s/f, 2/2 home since 6/30/2014. The only change to the newer energy-efficient appliances/equipment that came with the home, was the removal of the old hot water heater and replacement with a brand new (from Lowe's) electric HW heater.

I came to my gmother/mother’s home to help get the home in shape since gmother passed away and mother was placed in nursing home. My uncle was still in the home and apparently didn't pay the light bill for a few months. When it was shut off he had someone cut it back on and then 3 weeks later he died. Now I'm being held responsible for my gmother’s account whom Teco is still billing in addition to the account Teco made for me with my gmother’s total included. Teco wants me to pay her bill but I can't use her deposit. And they are billing two separate accounts with the same usage trying to get paid twice for one bill. This is criminal and I've been without power 3 months and Teco isn't getting anything this way.

Every month my bill is higher than I know it should be. I have 2 girls and my husband and myself in a 2 bedroom duplex. My bill is between $398.47/297.14 every month. I pay around the final notice date and my lights stay on. The day of 12/12/2014 I get a Teco bill saying December billing information saying, “deposit final notice”, saying “This is the final notice on your deposit bill for $95.00. To avoid having your service disconnected, a full payment must be made no later than December 24, 2014.” I want to know how in the hell I owe a deposit fee of $95.00? And I been a customer with Teco for about 6 years, never had to pay another deposit unless my service was disconnected and they had the $50 fee on the new bill. Why do they do this?

First off I would like to say I have been late and I don't complain about the repercussions. However, the service is beyond reprehensible. I have tried paying my bill multiple times over the phone or online and the system won't take my payment. However, it does take the convenience fee of 5 dollars each time although my payments won't go through!!! When you call them to ask for the money back, they hide behind the "We are not taking the fee, it's another company". I don't care if it's another company I just want your system to work so that the other company doesn't rob me 5 times. Although they return the fee, still I have to wait until they process it.

I got laid off last month and had no choice but to move into a motel at 330 a week. My wife works part time at minimum wage and all of our savings have been depleted by the high cost of the motel. I've since taken a job myself at minimum wage and found a home at a reasonable price for rent that my wife and I can afford. The landlord, being very understanding, gave us a small break on the deposit if we do the painting and small repairs. Sounded like a great deal and we could finally get back on our feet. Before moving in we were checking on the deposits necessary and found the water company to be 150.00. Ok, not bad. We can handle that. Then TECO, based on the past tenants usage, a family of 4 that never left the house, our deposit is almost 500.00!!! That’s a two week paycheck for both of us. We're only 2 people that are seldom home and are very energy conscious. I could not believe my ears.

I traveled to Cincinnati in early August 2014 due to a family emergency. My brother needed help with medical care. Then I traveled to Chicago because my adult children were in the middle of a move and need someone to baby sit. I forgot to pay my TECO bill. I had my mail forwarded to the Chicago address but by the time I received my TECO bill it was too late. My bill for $103.01 was due no later than August 15 and power was turned off on August 25. I have lived at my New Tampa address for over 10 years and have been late like this one other time.

I am moving into a small place. They told me since the last tenant stole electric and had a high electric bill, I had to pay a 440 deposit based on her usage instead of going by the square ft or my electric that had never been shut off ever. They then refused to send me to credit and collections. Instead they will call me which is absurd. I should not have to pay for someone else. I told her I have to move by tomorrow and she told me next time before I get a place, I should check their electric. I have never ever heard of anything like this before. It is illegal to charge a deposit based on someone else's usage.

I cannot believe how the only company in Tampa for Electricity is this evil and corrupt. This is horrible and cannot believe Florida, TAMPA, and the Government allows such horrible service and rules. Customer service is horrible, how accounts are handled are horrible and the arrangements on the accounts are not valid. I was disconnected when I already was given an approval for an extension, my children sat at home for 4 hours with no AC on a hot August day and now was told they will reconnect when they can. HOW HORRIBLE IS THIS. I HATE THIS COMPANY and plan on leaving this stupid county into another county just cause of this. They will not get another penny from me. GOVERNMENT, PRESIDENT OBAMA AND OR WHOEVER, PLEASE AUDIT AND REVIEW THESE THIEVES.

My name was added to the account from ** fraudulently by the tenant Rovena **/ AKA Roven **. It is said that I owe $5000 dollars. Then $6000. Then $7000 dollars. I have repeatedly asked document.

I have lived in my home for almost 10 years & during the warm weather months the power goes out from 3:00pm to 6:00pm several time. Today I counted 9 times. TECO informed me there was a power outage in my area (which I previously reported) and that a crew was working on restoring service. I asked why the power was going out so frequently on a daily basis and they could not tell me. I asked why it happened yesterday and they could not tell me. I told TECO I was concern that the constant on and off of power was affected my appliances and AC unit. I inquired about starting an investigation and I was told I could contact customer care.

There are some corrupted members and coworkers from Teco that are altering the meter reader in exchange for money. The president from Teco already knows about this fraud, but is more easy for him to not do anything.

Is there any other utilities company beside TECO for electricity? This company discredited my deposit for being late on a payment and then sent a bill with a new deposit required of $400. I said, "It hadn't even been 10 days past due. Is there no grace period?" The lady actually laughed and said she had no idea what that was. I didn't pay it with the next bill and even though the monthly payment was made, they still disconnected for not paying the additional deposit and then charged me $50 reconnect fee. No amount of persuasiveness or change in customer service person would aid in my assistance. I absolutely loathe TECO. If in the north, it's illegal to turn power off in the winter, then it should be the same for Florida in the summer. And there's no option for you but to allow them to force you to bend over & take it up the **. ;'(

Struggling a bit with the holidays, I was late on my bill (which I have been getting in the mail and don't know why). So they sent someone out to shut it off. We went outside to see what had happened. The man told us he could turn it back on if I call, pay the bill and give him a confirmation number, which is what I did (I have two small children). The man told me we would not have to pay a reconnection fee because he never left and that if it was on the bill, I could call and have it removed. Sure enough, it is on the bill so I called. I got told that he was wrong and that there is nothing they can do. So, I asked to talk to a supervisor, who said there was nothing she could do and that the tech shouldn't have told me that. So basically it's okay for their employees to lie and they don't give a ** about it. The fee is $50.00. That is insane! Worst service ever!

My electric bill has jumped up showing a usage that is totally inconsistent with the use in the house, and in the annual record of use. The digital meter prevents the owner from monitoring the consumption on a literal and actual basis. You could see the increase or decrease in motion on the old style meter and therefore you could verify that you had increased or decreased the amount of KWH you were using in real time. It is my opinion that the digital meter, like the digital controls on TV's and radios, registers exaggerated increments instead of actual use. If TECO wanted a rate increase, that would to go before a Commission. But if they just want to raise your bill without the Commission's approval, all they had to do was install these deceitful meters. This whole process should be deemed illegal and unfair trade.

I moved into my apartment in March of 2009 and contacted TECO to have my lights connected. I was told I had to contact Equifax and verify my I.D. and address with them before I could get my lights connected. After doing so, I was told to pay a $50 deposit and my lights would be connected. Everything was done in a timely fashion. They did not come and connect the lights for three days.

I have had some of the same problems with TECO (Tampa Electric). The power goes off 2-5 times per day. I got the same story from TECO. Finally, I called the PSC (Public Service Commission). They made a call to TECO, and bingo, they sent a guy out, put a recorder on my meter and for some reason, the problem was solved for 9 months. However, it’s back! It’s time for another call to the PSC!