Tampa Electric / Teco Energy review: Digital meter 6

We received a new meter the last week of September 2010. Teco had given us a warning that if we didn't change our meter they would disconnect our electricity. Our bill went up almost double in October. It went up more in November. Just received my December bill and it was three times what it has been in the past year. I contacted TECO and gave them a current meter reading and they bluntly stated that the digital meter was accurate. I questioned the person on the other end of the phone if it could possibly be a defective meter and she rudely repeated that the meter was giving an accurate reading. We have only energy saving appliances which are just a little over a year old. We have been remodeling our home so we have reinsulated exterior walls and installed 5/8" drywall upon the interior of said exterior walls. We have replaced the old air conditioning unit with a brand new 15 seer and had our home zoned (this all occurred in June 2010). The first person I spoke with at Teco stated that due to the colder weather that our pool's heat pump could be causing the rise in rates. We don't have a pool. I firmly believe that the meter are either defective or Teco has found a way to stick it to their customers.

I too recently received a digital meter. My bill is double what it normally is with no additional service used. The bill was "estimated" at double the rate I normally use. I have not used their estimated kilowatt hours in any month of the 17 years that I have lived in the house. It is not a conincidence. It is dishonest and TECO should be sued. Also, agree that their customer service people are extremely rude. Only a supervision will even began to consider listening to your issue.

I too recently received a digital meter. My bill is double what it normally is with no additional service used. The bill was estimated at double the rate I normally use. I have not used their estimated kilowatt hours in any month of the 17 years that I have lived in the house. It is not a conincidence. It is dishonest and TECO should be sued. Also, agree that their customer service people are extremely rude. Only a supervisior will even began to consider listening to your issue

I am so sorry to hear how the bills seem to be so high for us! I just received the highest bill I have ever seen in my life since this new meter. My bill is about triple what it should be and I am not even taking a shower everyday. There is something wrong at this place and when I am fairly certain it is this new meter I will definitely be letting everyone know. For now I am asking for help and an energy audit and I am paying up what I can and I guess I will be throwing away the computer the range and the clothes dryer I hardly use anyway if I have to. My A/C is brand new and the thermostat is set to be off so much and comes on and goes to a warm 78 so I do not have the slightest what could be costing much. Could someone tell me if someone could tap into my meter somehow and I end with their bill and my own?

I moved to a new Condo 3 days back and TECO cycle ended. I am getting charged for 900kwh for 3 days and i have not even used 100kwh. What can be done? TECO is really unprofessional and Very BAD Service.

We have lived in our home now for 6 years and have never dealt with any High electric bill as far as significantly High 600s 700s and $50 a month since this digital meter had to go in TECO has gotten ridiculous and you don't have a choice but to have TECO there are no other options for electric company so you either pay it or your service gets shut off all the fees and deposits that I've been charged for over a year now I've reached out to eight on my side haven't heard anything back from them neither my bill is now officially $4,258 in $0.66 had a home audit done and they found nothing my living space is a little over 1200 square footage this is ridiculous they refuse to credit any money back or anything else that is more than double my bill that has ever been since they put this meter in and I've even talked with the manager named Alex and he only credited me $35 and that was for a late fee when I was entered in in an installment payment plan and told me that I would be charged the late fee every month because of the balance that was due who these days would be able to pay over $700 electric bill put food on the table plus pay your water plus pay your mortgage insurance vehicles you name it it's ridiculous and somebody needs to please step in and do something us as customers we need help TECO is out of control and they say next year in September customer rates would go down yeah they can go down but we're also going to be owing a back past due amount we're all going to be in debt with them no matter what