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?
I would love to have an electric bill that low. Mine runs between $300 and $350 a month except for in the months of May and September when neither heat nor ac is used. Then, it might run a low as $250.
We all got a kick out of my Sicilian Grandmothers phonetic writing for her grocery lists. I do remember she didn't like Nix, or Nixon. She thought he was a crook :)
1. Global Warming
2. Trump/Russians
3. Governor D.
4. Covid
5. Supply chain shortages
Did I miss anything?
Dear facebook
My electric bill in Las Vegas can reach $200 at the peak of summer when the AC is on 24-7. In the winter it’s only about $50. I could pay a constant rate over the whole year but don’t trust them to get it right.
A thought, do you think it was a lib or conservative who wrote the letter?
At least we can concur it is someone who watches the media and believes it is not Biden’s fault?
“ our bill under TECO’s “averaging” program”
If you could opt out of bill averaging, do it. That is a big scam. I ran the numbers when Duke suggested averaging. Our bill would have gone up 30-40 month. I no longer live in Florida, btw.
Under teco here too. Pasco county.
Saw the DPUC approve teco’s deceptive increase package in 2021.
The monthly fee went from some $15.05 a month to $0.70 a day. Doing the math that’s 40%. But allowed to be presented to the rate payers in the month to day comparison.
Crooks getting rubber stamp approvals in every aspect.
Now they are going after those who invested in solar. Teco and all utilities trying to pull back on decade long commitments. Utilities want to pro-rate daytime energy you push back into grid and use later that night.
An empty condo and the utility cost goes up?
where does the article say that? thanks
Because of fuel adjustment charges which they have on their bill, the dollar amount of the bill is not relevant for determining what’s going on. It must be the number of kilowatt hours used. Without that the entire post is useless. I could easily see them tacking on a 20% fuel adjustment charge.
I’ve had people tell me about their electric bills and I asked them what was your kilowatt hour usage and they say I don’t know.
Most folks do not understand inflation—and are easily fooled by the blame game.
I haven’t had a electric bill under 200 dollars in years if that is all it is be grateful
We have those new meters which communicate directly to TECO without the utility having to send a meter reader around. All of our appliances are fully functioning and replaced or repaired when faulty. Our usage is consistent month to month over the previous year. Nothing changes. Except the number of non-English speaking occupants in the homes around us which is on the rise. As a matter of fact since December my wife has been in and out of hospital and rehab for a broken back and has only been home for three weeks since Christmas. So it has just been myself and the two dogs in the residence.
“My 96 year old Sicilian grandmother handwrote letters to any politician that pissed her off and told them exactly what she thought of them.”
I’m sure lots of freepers would love to read some of her letters. Can you get and post them. Thanks.
Joe Biden and the democrats told you straight out that electric rates would go through the roof once the rats took power.
It’s all in the name of the global warming agenda. Coal is evil and we must save the planet by switching to super expensive and inefficient solar panels for electric production.
To all those democrats complaining about sky high electric bills, this is what you voted for. You own it!
How much per KWh? 32,cents out here in FR HQ land…(up from around 12 cents about 15 years ago). Nat gas is the killer now for us…pushed our “2 people 1480 sq/ft home” bill to $300,…usually only Summer A/C bills do that! (Long stretches over 100 deg. here in Summer).
California here...where the Biden people are flooding the State with “free sh*t” illegals, come to suck up benefits that citizens then have to pay for.
Ok, gas&electricity bills....2 bills ago, our PG&E utility bill was about $200 for 2 months, 1 bill ago, PG&E jumped it to about $365 for 2 months, the new bill was about $785 for two months....and PG&E is requesting about another 20% increase on top of this.
Well, someone has to pay for the invasion army of illegals....housing, energy, food, schooling, medical...whole cities are turning brown.
Wife and I retired in Georgia.. when we left Maryland in 2018 our electric bill for a 2400 sq ft house averaged around $400 a month. Now I’m paying about $170 for a 1500 sq ft so I’m happy with for the big drop.
Southern MD just lost over 2000mw of coal power do to the “tree hugger, sierra club” going all out against “ dirty coal burners” i cant imagine what the bills are going to be when they add in the new gas price surcharge.
Recently Bidet’s administration reversed a planned extension for operation of a nuclear plant. Maybe the are beginning to accumulate funds for eventual decommissioning.
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