Tampa Electric Reviews

Ever since they put in a smart meter my bills have jumped from 115-130 to 220 - 250 this is insane. It has nothing to do with summer. I have a routine and never change to thermostat. I really wish the news or someone would look into this. I cannot be the only person to see such dramatic increases.

I have used TECO since 2008. I am not happy with the way TECO services its clients. They are not understanding to families needs whatsoever. I don't shutting my services off after not paying, not because I didn't want to but because I had to choose to either pay my TECO bill or buy groceries for my children! They are robbing us and it's not fair! You can barely get an extension, which I have never qualified for, mostly because I'm a single parent working full time at a non-profit. I'm doing the best I can and TECO couldn't care less. All it seems TECO cares about is getting richer while steady taking my whole paycheck.

My bill was due 7/29. It is now 7/31. Just two short days later. We just moved, haven't settled into a routine yet, and missed the payment by accident. It happens. Not a big deal, at least not to me, but apparently Teco thinks it is. It is only two days past the due date, and they have already issued a disconnect notice and sent it to my email. 2 days, people..2 days. What kind of company does this??? Of course I'm gonna pay it before the disconnect date, and I might add I've had perfect payment history for the past several years before this...but what kind of messed up company provides no grace period for payments? This is completely unacceptable. As soon as there is another option in my area, this company can kiss a donkey as I walk out the door.

This company is the worst electric company I've ever had. My lights go out at LEAST 2-3 times a week; They come back up within a few minutes, but I work from home (on a computer), so this is constantly causing me to lose work. Who's going to compensate me for that? Not Teco, that's for sure!

They sent my bill. It has an account number. Their automated system doesn't recognize the number....RIP....As echoed by everyone above, they may have humans working on the power lines, but it's obviously just a bunch of monkeys dutch ruddering each other's typewriters over at the corporate office. Enjoy your self-defeating monopoly while it lasts **.

Last night my parents' power went out in their apartment complex. My dad is on oxygen. I called TECO and within an hour a young lady named Sally called me back to see if the power had turned back on. What a great experience! She was very kind and I appreciate her. Thank you.

Moved into a new house on March 1st 2019. Called TECO to get power turned on at our new home. Everything went smooth. No issue. Fast forward to April 24th I come home from work and the power out. Kinda annoying but it happens so I look at the neighbor's house and their lights are on so I am puzzled. I text my wife and she did not get a call, Email, or anything in the mail explaining the outage. So I check my Arlo Camera and seen that there was a guy at our front porch at 9 AM on a Wednesday while everyone was at work. So they turned my power off without any warning or explanation.

Five years in Saint Petersburg with Duke Energy flawless payment history good credit rating. Bought a new house in Tampa fifteen minutes away... TECO is forcing me to pay three times the PAST owners bill as a deposit. Already I have made upgrades in the first week, that will make my bill a fraction of the previous owners. They claim it's Equifax mandating the deposit, my Equifax rating is good, they will not specify which criteria is not allowing the deposit to be waived. It's a cash grab SCAM, they claim they will return it in Two or three years with a 2% interest, I'm sorry I wouldn't lend money to anyone or anything less than 10% ESPECIALLY a corporation. Not a great way to a business relationship. If you live on a border where you can get Duke Energy even FPL is better than this unprofessional clown show.

I have been paying Teco every month without any delay for years, but lately for been a few days later they charge without options. I leave you this link for the community if you want to have another option rather than TECO: **.

I live in Tampa Florida. It's December and right now it is pretty cold outside. I did not receive a final notice in the mail. I did not receive a final notice to my email address. The only thing I received of the bill telling me I was due by the 26th of December. I do have a past due amount of about $140 that I was going to pay on Friday. Today is Tuesday. Me and my brother watching TV when the power went out. No explanation. Just shut off. I open the door and TECO is outside shutting off my box. I asked, "Why are you shutting off my box". "I was told you're past due by $140", I told the gentleman I have until the 26. He told me, "Nope. I'm told you're past due." No heart at all and it's cold outside.

I moved to a home. I took over the lease. To turn on power I had to pay the previous tenants $1k bill. I also had to pay a $350 Depo. and other fees not explained. I sent $1450 thru Amscot. Called Teco. Gave verification #. Asked if it would've turned on that day. Was told, "Sure for another $75." Paid the $75. Lived there 2 months moved. Would not transfer unless paid up and another $275 depo. Paid all of that electric was turned on. 5 months go by and I get not a bill but a turn off notice in 2 days for $697. Called spoke to 4 different managers... No one could explain why other than my prior residence.

On or around August 15th 2018 I called to schedule a disconnect of service for my gas and electric for September 1st 2018. I was told by the representative that I would not get an email of confirmation of my request but all was taken care of. I received a bill in September and paid it thinking it was a final bill. Then I receive one in October (for September charges) with a statement date of 9/24/2018 for 55.74. I call and the lady states that there is no record of disconnect and not only am I responsible for this bill but I will receive a final bill next month as well! I pleaded with her to send me an email to confirm this time that I made this request and again, she said we do not do this. In other words, I must just trust her. If there is any way to avoid this company... Run. I am so fed up with companies that continue to bill. I am only 1 person. Imagine how many people this happens to and how much they profit from this. No confirmation of disconnect request???

Set up new account on 30 May 2018 and they charged 28$ new account setup. And I have registered that account online and set up autopayment. First bill got generated and due date was 6/6/18 and deducted directly from autopayment. (So I never bother to look at account again after that.) All of sudden yesterday they disconnected my service at 1:30 pm and waited for hour or so and raised Outage request (2:30 pm) by sending text "OUT" to "35069" and got the response saying power will be restored in 4 hours. Waited 4 hours (till 6:30 pm) and got email saying power is restored around 6:18 pm but no powerhouse.

I have never written a review on a company before. Because TECO is the absolute worst electric company I felt the need to share with everyone!!! I never carry a balance over to the next month. Always pay my bill every month... the one month I pay my bill 5 days late they come and disconnect my service and want to charge me a reconnection fee... not to mention they have 250$ deposit on my account for which they have held for over 3 years!!! Disconnection for $100.53!! I can’t believe it!! Not to mention we are in May in Florida with 80-90 degree weather everyday!!

I have been out of work for months. I barely can make the payments, and I have never had my power disconnected. This month they charged me additional $350 deposit for making late payments!!! And their excuse is this is to protect the company. Why are you treating poor people like this? So the solution is to make it harder. This is why inventions are made to put businesses like you out of business. Once a competitor come around, I am jumping ship. Shame on TECO!!!

My bill was always high and was always above 250 a month. But no one was home during the day. AC kept at 78, did not use heat, have energy saving window and good insulation.

We are very unhappy. We buy a house in Brandon. So we moved from Tampa to Brandon. We are told we need to create a new account. SO we get rapped by then on the Tampa bill then they tack it on to the new account. So 6 months ago we have a newborn. We call them every month telling them we will be late. They don't care. I understand they have employees to pay. Our bill was due on the 3 of Jan 2018. Yesterday they shut off the power. Knowing they have a record of us PAYING EVERY MONTH and the temperature was going to drop last night they shut us off and now we have to go all weekend with a newborn. We had the bill paid at 5:58 pm. Now get this. It was a late bill of 160. That's really ** customer service.

If I could give 0 STARS I would. The fact that we only have one electric and gas company to choose from is ridiculous, but the fact that TECO is taking advantage of this is terrible. Where I live I am required to have two separate accounts with TECO, one for gas and one for electric. Not only did they require me to pay an upfront installation charge for each account, they also charge me TWO service fees per month. Furthermore, this 'Basic Service Fee' ends up totaling the same, if not MORE, than what my actual energy or fuel charge is on each bill. This is why monopolies should not exist. Terrible.

I moved from Indiana not knowing when I paid with my American Express and even getting a confirmation charged me a non fee charge. My bank confirms nothing was sent to them for a reject. Once I received a card in the mail to shut my power off is how I found out. Then was told, "We don't take this type of payment." Instead of as a courtesy adjusting off the charge they continue to add it to my bill. No one will even acknowledge the non communication or the incorrect charge.

TECO's gone from bad to worse. We lose power all the time in my neighborhood, for no explicable reason (no storm, nothing... Just constantly blips out, and resetting every clock in the kitchen, etc.). What's worse is since Aug/Sep (last two months), TECO is charging almost $100 more a month to every customer! It's UNBELIEVABLE to be limited in choice of power company - monopolies shouldn't be allowed - and TECO is using their POWER (pun intended) to rob customers blind! Disgusted. No more words for blatant robbing customers blind!

Dealing with moving, let alone from state to state is exhausting, but dealing with TECO has been a horrible experience. This company only cares about overcharging customers and getting their money at any cost. No sympathy for customer's hardships, or trying to work payment arrangements for first time customers; why does that even matter. Explain how do you get a $600 bill on a first month's of use?? I think they abuse their power and treat customers like crap because they know they have control over your electricity. Sadness! These people should be investigate.

Irma was downgraded to a tropical storm when it hit Tampa with winds maxing out at 80 mph & we only got 8" of rain. There was not a single downed power line or tree anywhere near my neighborhood but we were without power for 5 days. The power went out before the storm even really hit Tampa. Checking their "outage map" 70% were without power by Sunday at 8 pm when the worst of the storm didn't hit until 2 am. My office which is by the coast did not lose power at all. I did not find a single business that was without power that wasn't caused by a downed line. I firmly believe that TECO caused the majority of the outages when they messed up shutting down their power plants. Why did Teco even shut down their plants when they knew it was not going to be more than a category 1 storm at the most? Why is it that most businesses did not lose power and neither did the richer part of Tampa lose power?

TECO is absolutely the WORSE in regards to emergency responses. Irma was not even as bad as anticipated and yet thousands of people are without power. TECO's empty promises stating they would be working around the clock were just words. Forest Hills is an area filled with elderly people and NOT one truck is in the area. I guarantee the CEO of TECO or the high paid executives who live in Hillsborough County did not lose a minute of power. Teco should be ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES and if there were an other energy source...Teco would lose the majority of their customers and I hope the greedy executives reap what they deserve by way of payback for being so complacent.

Tampa Electric is the only source of service we have in Tampa. After Irma, of course, as with any storm, the power is out, and there is no information as to when it will be restored. No estimated time - nothing. This is unacceptable for a company of this size. The company is aware of where their trucks are scheduled to go and when they are scheduled to go to a location. If they are not going to be in my area, I would appreciate the information to be communicated in some form - website, text, voicemail, but, some form of communication is mandatory. The City of Tampa, Bob Buckhorn managed to get a phone message out to the citizens about a curfew and the lifting of that curfew - call him - find out how he called all of the citizens in Tampa!!! Come on TECO!!! EARN YOUR HIGH FEES EVERY MONTH!!! This is ridiculous.

I filled out the claims form along with what I could get for estimates and photos of the damage TECO and their tree company caused & they denied it. I called multiple times on 8/17 And 8/19 and didn't receive a phone call back so I did the online form and they emailed me back saying they would mail me a claims form and to call as well which I did with no response... I filled out the claims form along with what I could get for estimates and photos of the damage TECO and their tree company caused while cutting branches and bushes something my husband and I had complained about that needed to be done for 5 years! Instead they decide to do it in August after the power goes out with close to 100 temps and definitely 100% humidity!

I really wish there was more competition for energy. How does TECO still remain a monopoly in this day and age? I pay every month, and I was a few days late and they send someone to disconnect... I get it... But they send the rudest, nastiest pieces of ** out to do it. I tried asking a question and was met with attitude because they know, you have no other choice... So what do they care. I tried asking if he could wait and I would make the payment right in front of him, he started yelling at me causing a scene in the middle of my neighborhood. I wish I got his name so I could have posted it here in the hope everyone would troll this **. To make matters worse, when I called to provide my receipt, the ho on the phone gave me nothing but attitude like I was interrupting her Jerry Springer reruns. I really hate TECO and hope somehow, someway they just get fined for creating a monopoly.

Trying to transfer service with TECO experience has been a living nightmare. First of all they no longer transfer your deposit, they will final out your bill, apply your last bill to your deposit, if any credit remaining they will mail you a refund. Tampa Electric will charge you a new connect fee as well as a new deposit. So in other words I'm basically opening up a new account. This is not consider transferring service. This is when the nightmare begins. I was quoted a new deposit of $263. Already had a $400.00 deposit on my original account. After finalizing the final bill I was left with a credit or about $135. So I waited for the refund which never came. I then decided to call Tampa Electric and inquire where is my refund. To my knowledge they advised me that Services was turned on in two locations for me, 8317 and 8319. A mistake made in error on their part.

My bill was due on the 16th of June and Tampa Electric said they sent out a disconnect letter and called my phone but I never received either one!! I hate dealing with Tampa Electric company!! But what can you do when they the only light company in Tampa!!! I work very hard and don't deserve this treatment!!! The only thing I received in the mail was a letter about charging me more on my deposit if I don't pay my account in full. I moved in last year in December! I really don't think that's fair!!!

I started service with Teco Jan 2017. Since I moved into my condo they have not mailed me a single bill. Three months into my service I receive an automated message stating that my service was going to be disconnected. I contacted their customer service immediately and made sure that my bill was paid in full. I asked customer service why was I not receiving any bills? They told me that they were not sure but they showed on file that my bills were being returned. I verified with them my address and they said it was correct. I would assume so since they are billing me for services rendered.

We moved to Florida and tried to establish an online TECO account - twice, for residential service. We have a excellent credit rating. They were converting from one system to another. End result, neither the first or second account would let us log on. They have now terminated our ability to pay by phone, making us drive 30 minutes to pay our bill IN CASH! Horrible service, horrible technical support, no customer concern whatsoever. We plan to make a formal complaint, and request an investigation.

Teco has created two accounts for me. Under one account # have been paying every month. The other account # they have listed me as never have made a payment and past due $300.00. I have proof via bank statement that I have paid them. Now that I have set up my online account. The information from the other account # that I have been paying monthly. Magically disappeared as if I never paid. Teco has lost all my trust in them because they have shirty and thieves for employees that create this kind of problems so they can embezzled money to put in their own pocket.

TECO has constant power hits. Why do I even have to give them one star... 1 star implies they are least doing ONE thing right. I live in South Tampa, down near MacDill AFB. I think I average a power hit or surge about once a week. Had another one at 9:21 am this morning, took my home network 10 minutes to recover. One of these days they are going to blow my TV or one of my many computers in the house. About 50% are soft hits (some devices reset) and others are hard hits (where every electronic device resets). It's the hard hits that are the most dangerous and no surge protectors or battery backups will ever offer 100% protection against hard hits. No joke... averages about once a week. I have lived in a lot of locations, never have I seen so many power hits and outages as TECO has. Probably more in the last 4 years than in all my previous 12 cities/locations (over 44 years) combined.

I have been with TECO just recently and never had a problem until I tried to reinstall electric in a home I had recently lived in (and returned to a mere 3 weeks later). This time a very RUDE lady with an "attitude" acted as though I was a criminal. No matter how much ID I gave her INCL. my former TECO acct.#...it was never enough. She kept me on the phone for 20 mins (and I have ltd. mins. on my phone). She said they had to "know" me for a full two years, regardless of my previous good standing with them, in order to "trust" me! Imagine!! She actually "threatened" to call the credit agencies "unless" I would pay a hefty deposit...I think $100-200 dollars...and made it sound like an actual THREAT.

I signed in a month ago. Had a problem. They now change how you sign in with a password. So I created a new sign in. They sent me a bill last month. Oh I'm trying to sign in today and can't get in. My computer allows me to save my sign in and password along with my account number. Unfortunately now that don't work. Tampa Electric is telling me it's the wrong account. I had the same account for five years. They keep changing things and it messes everything up. I emailed them with a complaint. They make it very difficult for anyone to get online and pay your bill.

I spent 4 hours today trying to contact customer service with TECO. Each time I was placed on hold for 30+ minutes only to have the call disconnected. I even tried the emergency line and the same thing happened. Every time in the past that I've tried to reach a representative with TECO I experience the same thing. When I do finally get in contact with someone they are of little or no help and are rude. Simply need to update my online account info. This should not be such a hard thing to do. If I had an option for my electric needs I would leave this company in a heartbeat!!!!

I already paid 2 deposits and I've been behind on my bill since they did that. Let me just say me, my boyfriend and my two kids lived in this house for a year, last year in Nov I paid my deposit. They charged me another $140 deposit in May because my k Watts went up. Am I the only that aware that there's always a time of year when you have to use more electricity in Florida to keep your house cool? This was setup to make us fail. I called them today to ask why they're going to raise my bill again. They said, "Well you haven't been paying your bill on time, you've been a week behind every month." I told them it's because the extra deposit I've been behind on everything since then. He said he finds it hard to believe that's why I'm behind on my bills and said I need to get my priorities straight...

Typical TECO, they can't keep our power on for more than a few days without an outage or glitch that resets clocks and security lights but after eleven years of service with them they just sent us a deposit demand for $110 or disconnect. Hands down the worst utilities company I have dealt with in my fifty years and four countries. They need prosecuted for blackmailing customers into giving them money for no apparent reason. Horrible service and even worse billing!

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!