Complaint Review: Tampa Electric - Tampa Florida

I just want to say that when I called Tampa Electric serveral times to report a low voltage problem..... I spoke to idiots who were clueless.   They put me on hold for 20 minutes hoping I would hang up.   When I didn't  the idiot kid in a cubicle came back on the line and said "there is nothing we can do".   Jack a*s!   Low Voltage will burn out your A/C motors and other larger appliance.  They don't care!  Idiots.  Idiot employees that probably couldn't pass the FCATS so Tampa Electric hired them.   Dumb as a box of rocks.   

"Tampa Electric TECO TECO doesn't care about their customer's - pay them or else! Tampa, Florida"
What would you expect them to do....not require you to pay for the service you're using?

That way, your neighbors could pay a little more to keep you from having to pay so much.

"TECO management has gone from superior to into the dirt over the last few years."
What, exactly, are they doing that has changed them "into dirt?"

You said you lowered the water heater thermostat...is it electric?
If so, there's a MAJOR electricity user. If it's gas, it won't make any difference on your power bill, and I'd wonder why, you then mentioned it.

I don't see any Ripoff here, your usage is most likely pretty standard. 

We just replaced a 36 year old 2 ton A/C with a new high efficiency 2-1/2 ton A/c and it uses less than HALF the power of the old one and keeps us cooler.

BTW 3-1/2 ton air conditioners DO use a fair amount of power. 

"I should mention here we are in our 60s with limited income."    Yet you previously lived in a 3500 sq ft home with 2 A/C...the income can't be TOO limited.

No, I don't work for TECO and never have, I'm 72 and retired on limited income.

Interesting how you moved because you say the previous house was an energy hog, only to find out you still have high bills.  Perhaps it isn't the house that is a hog..perhaps it is the inhabitants. 

Your lowest summer bill was $250 and you had a Spring bill of $200, yet you are complaining.  Your highest Summer bill was $380, yet you are complaining about a smaller summer bill of $340 which based on what you wrote seems to be the highest at this place.  You are also complaining that you are having trouble paying your bill because it is so high..yet it is lower than you had at the other place.

What did you expect your new bill to be?  Did you think it was going to be half the amount because you have 1 AC and a little more than  1/2 the space?  Well the AC is only a portion of your bill, you have everything else that doesn't really change based on the size.  That is you still have a refrigerator, you still have lights on when you are in the room, you still have your TV and other appliances. 

Not only that but you have no information on the energy usage of the 3 A/C units in question.  Even ones manufactured 6 years ago could vary greatly in their energy usage.   And if this house has been a rental for years, you often(but not always) find that landlords in order to save costs will not get the most efficient top of the line items because those are often the most expensive.