Posted on 03/12/2022 6:17:40 AM PST by 4Runner
Below is the text of a complaint we filed today with the Florida Public Service Commission:
This electric utility contacted us a month ago and informed us that power usage in our residence had increased over the past 12 months (How--and Why? We are a couple in our 70's and have lived in this house for 38 years. Nothing has changed. If anything, we have been upgrading to more energy efficient appliances as needed!)
At the time of the "notice", our bill under TECO's "averaging" program was a whopping $164.00 per month. If we were ever a day late in paying this bill we immediately received a threatening postcard warning us our service would be shut off if we did not immediately pay the bill.
We have a perfect payment record with TECO going back 38 years in this residence. So this month the TECO bill increased from $164 to an unbelievable $200.00. This, without so much as a single public or governmental hearing to justify this degree of a raise in electrical usage and cost. Thirty-six dollars.
In October of 2021 a close relative of ours and a resident of Pinellas County died. For estate purposes, the family has been keeping up assessment and utility payments at the deceased relatives' condo in Tarpon Springs. It is 1200 square feet while our residence is 1550 sq ft.
The bills we are getting from Duke Energy are around $46.00 a month while the condo is unoccupied. The last month it was occupied the bill was for $87.55. This has been an eye-opening experience for us and has made us realize the extent of the corruption in Hillsborough County and the political games being played at the expense of the residents who are responsible and pay their bills.
Clearly what is going on in Hillsborough County is extreme dereliction of duty on the part of the County government. We know full well why our electric bill has become a mortgage payment. It is because we are having to pay for the residents in this county who do not pay their bills but who will never be threatened with service disruption because the corporatist socialist TECO is fearful of rioting and civil disorder if it were ever to terminate service to this particular population group which is now over one million statewide due to massive exodus over the past several years from Haiti and Puerto Rico.
The same ones who drive without insurance and get away with it because law enforcement is now non-existent in Hillsborough thanks to Sheriff DeBartolo. (No that's his real name not the phony "Chronister" moniker.) We are being forced to pay for the people who don't.
Two hundred dollars a month is an absolute outrage for electricity for two people over the age of 70. In a 1550 sq ft dwelling. Hillsborough is the worst county in the State of Florida. We will be contacting Governor DeSantis' office on this matter and demanding an investigation because we know the PSC are nothing but TECO's "rubber stamp"
Go on. Tell us how our two-hundred-dollar-a- month electric bill is justified. In corporate-speak. Go ahead.
Just how f'n stupid do you think we are?
Stolen elections have dire consequences.
Poverty…immorality…
I live in FL and have Duke Energy. I rarely see a bill higher than $80.00. Good luck because I’ve used TECO in the past and they are crazy to deal with.
It is a 20% increase with the inforamtion given.
My ex mother in law used to write 3 page letters to IRS. IT was good therapy but changed nothing.
I bet it is “fuel recovery cost,” making the bill increase.
This brings to mind when I lived in Charlotte and we were in a severe drought. One nearby county said they had about 60 days of water - this county had a population where 30% were illegals.
Stealing from Americans every single way they can.
We are a two person (in our 70s) household in Tennessee. Our last utility bill was $267.00. Full disclosure, that is for electric, gas, and water. Hurts nonetheless. I feel your pain.
You are tilting against windmills.
Pun intended
20% is close to the true annual inflation rate these days.
It has happened fast, and many folks are in denial.
Useless post. Can’t even bother to say whether rate or consumption or both increased. Numerically challenged rants reveal nothing. Waste of readers’ time.
My 96 year old Sicilian grandmother handwrote letters to any politician that pissed her off and told them exactly what she thought of them.
She didn’t cut corners and didn’t mince words.
God, I miss that woman. She was one of my life’s greatest lights.
We have duke also and our bill runs about 122 last month. It gets up there in august. We got a new roof and AC and it dropped it 20 bucks a month. A few years back we got electric bill of 300 bucks. We called and complained and got the bs run around. We weren’t the only ones that received a whopper of a bill. Next month it’s back to normal. We just paid it and moved on. If you don’t they cut off your juice. Lol.
The hell? Did you not read the article?
An empty condo and the utility cost goes up? A couple of 70 year olds who actually are proactive in getting energy efficient appliances and their costs still go up.
Why don’t you got elsewhere. Maybe a website with just pictures.
My bill here in San Diego had doubled with no real explanation. SDG&E went to a complicated billing system with usage tiers.
I agree with everything you said, but will over this in addition, everyone is paying more sometimes a lot more for electricity.
A lot of utility companies have gone “Woke”, with their renewable initiatives. FP&L for example has made huge investments in Solar, in the end that cost more sometimes a lot more.
A lot of coal fired plants have either been shut down on converted natural gas in cases due to political pressure.
The cost of natural gas has skyrocketed, the price of gas goes up, so does the price you pay for electricity.
Look around the world, when the price of basic essentials reaches the point where the average person can’t survive, wars have started, governments have been overthrown, etc..
No country in the history of the world has accumulated more debt than the USA, when the Dollar loses the status of being the World’s Reserve Currency, the USA will be faced with what has happened around the world.
Regardless of what you think about Ukraine, the economic war we are waging against Russia will hasten the move to an alternative reserve currency, probably the Yuan.
Your bill should show a bar graph for the year. Look to see when increasing started. If the increase has increased, has someone tapped your libe or meter? Your meter may need replacement?
I also live in Hillsborough and use TECO. $200 for a 1500’ house is way too much! I have 2000’ residence and my current bill is $71.96. I use LED lights and a water heater timer. Didn’t use heat or A/C much in February.
Something is wrong at your place. Water heater thermostat broken? Short somewhere?
Call TECO and tell them. They can check your billing, rate and usage and see if it’s accurate. Also try calling calling around to electricians see if they have any ideas or can troubleshoot.
Useless comment.
We received a notice not too long ago in Southern California from the water company that we were “using more water than our neighbors.”
Turns out everyone in the neighborhood got the same notice.
My elderly neighbors were hopping mad - they visit their grandkids from Friday-Monday and aren’t even home, take showers at the senior center gym and have replaced their lawns with desert scaping.
We’ve also ripped out our lawns, use energy efficient appliances, keep the a/c at 78 degrees - and still our bills are soaring and we are being threatened with “Tier II” prices.
This - as large condo and apartment complexes are going up at the edges of town - guess they don’t need to tap into the limited water supply.
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