In September, the Tampa Bay Times posed a question: Did you pay a higher-than-usual electric bill this summer? More than 360 readers responded — a record for any of our questionnaires. We had clearly hit a nerve.
Over and over, Floridians told us the same thing: The power bills they paid this summer were their highest ever or close to it, even for longtime residents.
The answer didn’t change if they lived in Hillsborough or Pinellas or elsewhere.It didn’t change if theygot their power from Tampa Electric or Duke Energy, lived in a tiny, leaky apartment or a fancy new house. Some had tried to combat the high bills with things like new windows and fresh insulation, though only some found success.
Everyone asked us why it was happening.
Hefty hurricane recovery fees from last year’s storms were likely the biggest culprit, experts said, though record summer heat and new hikes to base rates also contributed to the crunch. Both Duke and Tampa Electric noted that the hurricane recovery charges will be falling off customers’ bills in March and September, respectively.
Below is a collection of our conversations, edited for length and clarity, that show the breadth of the impact and how residents dealt with higher bills. Residents provided the Times with copies of their bills to verify the amounts listed:
Diane DeLauro, retired mortgage banker
City: Clearwater
Highest summer bill: $256 in August
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: 80 during the day, 78 at night
Housing details: 1,046-square-foot house built in 1953. New hurricane windows and doors, new air conditioning unit and thermostat from 2020. A tree shades half the house.
What they said: “Being an ex-banker, I’m pretty good at budgeting. It was a surprise. The money has to come from somewhere, whether it’s trip money or somewhere else.
You can see once you go over 1,000 kilowatt-hours, that’s when the price goes up. Lots of people probably went over that threshold and it wasn’t usual for them.
They’re thinking what I’m thinking: Is this just the beginning? Will I be paying $300 a month next year? That’s when the scary part comes in. If this is the new normal, that’s a big difference. That’s $80 more a month than we would normally pay this time of year.”
Patrick Maguire, retired financial advisor
City: Brandon
Highest summer bill: $623 in August
Utility provider: Tampa Electric
Thermostat temperature: 78 during the day, 76 at night
Housing details: 2,140-square-foot house built in 1999.
What they said: “My thought was, ‘There’s something wrong. I’ve got a leak somewhere, there’s a hole in the air conditioning.’ It actually kind of made me scramble a little bit until I heard all my neighbors are dealing with it.
I bought little devices to try and figure out where the power is going. I’ve identified a couple of areas specifically. I put shades up over the west-facing windows. There’s some things I thought I could do to make it better, but, you know, they’re not having a whole lot of impact.
I guess I’m just in the same boat as all of my neighbors, in the sense that you just got to buck up and pay it, and then that just doesn’t seem right, does it?”
Summer Wall, nursing business manager
City: Plant City
Highest summer bill: $841 in September
Utility provider: Tampa Electric
Thermostat temperature: 73
Housing details: 2,055-square-foot house built in 2000. No upgrades since moving there in 2019.
What they said: “It doesn’t make any sense why TECO is charging their customers so much. It’s just baffling. I’m paying more for my electric than my car payment.
You just sit back and wonder, ‘Should we sell our home and just move out of the state?’ Because maybe we could afford something elsewhere.
Me and my husband, we make really good money. He’s a nurse, and he works 12-hour shifts five days a week. I’m salaried, so I make pretty good money. We’ve even contemplated him picking up more shifts at work, or me getting a second job to stay up on everything at the high cost of everything.”
Michael Drake, landscaper
City: St. Petersburg
Highest summer bill: $560 in September
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: 80
Housing details: 1,280-square-foot house built in 1958. New appliances, hurricane windows, new roof and insulation.
What they said: “It’s tight between the way the groceries have gone up right now and, well, everything, for that matter. It makes you a lot more picky when you’re having to purchase things or go to the store.
I’m a single dad and I’ve got four kids still living at the house. The way the economy is, people aren’t doing as much landscaping or anything else.
I would bitch about (energy bills) being up 150 bucks or 200 bucks more than normal. But I’d just be complaining, instead of going, ‘We’re going to just open up the windows and sweat, guys.’
It’s cut out a lot of going to theme parks or even going to the movies with the kids. Instead of doing that, I’ll be like, ‘Hey guys, let’s just go down to the beach.’ There’s no charge if we can find free parking.
This summer was the first summer we haven’t taken a vacation in years.”
Brian Turnbull, University of South Florida professor
City: Tampa
Highest summer bill: $231 in July
Utility provider: Tampa Electric
Thermostat temperature: 78 during the day, 77 at night
Housing details: House plus a guest home with a total of about 2,700 square feet. Built in 2020. Electric car that charges at home. Rooftop solar panels to offset power use.
What they said: “We got solar in 2022, (and saw) a big difference in bills right away. We had $25 electric bills that first year because we had so many credits.
I imagine if we didn’t have the panels, it would be 4 or $500. I’m definitely happy with it. It’s just scary, too, because it just shows how high the bill would be otherwise.
I’m sure a lot of people are scrambling because you have to get it installed by the end of the year (to get federal tax credits for rooftop solar). They must have the longest queues.”
Floridians rush to install rooftop solar panels before tax credits expire
Jeffrey Beyer, works in food and beverage at Disney World
City: Haines City
Highest summer bill: $771 in June
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: In the daytime 78, at night 73
Housing details: 2,653-square-foot home built in 2018. Energy efficient windows and two air conditioning units in a neighborhood shaded by trees.
What they said: “The bill this summer is absolutely ridiculous.
They’re telling everybody, ‘Oh, your bills are going to be cheaper.’ But see, I’m a factual guy. I don’t just listen to what people tell me. I listen to what is actually happening to me.
I’m not one to just complain because it’s high, but something’s going on.
(The home) it was a new development back in ‘18, so all the trees were tiny. So now, all these trees are growing, and they provide more shade. So then, therefore, it should be less, right?”
Chrystal Shiver, city of Tampa employee
City: Land O’ Lakes
Highest summer bill: $529 in July
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: Around 75 during the day and 73 at night
Housing details: About 2,800 square feet. House built in 2005. Newer, energy-efficient appliances including a new air-conditioning unit and new roof.
What they said: “I had my air conditioner replaced, because I kept seeing my bill go up. I thought it was maybe my air conditioner, because it was 10 years old. And then I replaced the roof. And still, after all that, it was the highest it’s ever been, by a lot.
When I bought the house in 2018, my summer bill was about $200.
Why is it so different? Because I’m not using more electricity, I don’t have more people in the house. If anything, it should have gone down.
It feels like a scam. If it were my cable bill, or any other bill, there would be notice that there’s something changing. But with this, it just keeps going up, and there’s no reason for it.”
Priscilla Pate, behavioral health technician
City: North Tampa
Highest summer bill: $529.95 in September
Utility provider: Tampa Electric
Thermostat temperature:78 during the day, 76 at night
Housing details: 1,400-square-foot single family house built in 2016.
What they said: “I’ve done everything TECO has told me to do to lower my bill, but unfortunately, it just keeps going up.
It’s just me, my 6-month-old grandbaby and sometimes my 7-year-old grandchild in the house, so something has to be wrong here with my bill.
I’ve had to split my diabetes medication payments in half. I’ve had to deprive myself of my medical needs in order to keep the lights on for the kids.
It’s pretty hard right now, and I see each time the company requests an increase, they’re getting it.
Give us a break. Let our families live, let our families eat.”
Sue Lewis, retired insurance claims adjuster
City: Gulfport
Highest summer bill: $67 in August
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: Doesn’t use air conditioning at all. House is shaded by oak trees. Sleeps on a waterbed to stay cool at night.
Housing details: Built in 1923, about 700 square feet.
What they said: “There is an air conditioner in the living room wall and there is also one in the front bedroom window that I have not used in over a decade so I don’t know if they even work.
I’m a very economical person — I don’t really have to be this economical, except to retrofit this house for AC would cost more than it’s worth. I’m not going to rebuild at my age. The windows are actual Miamis and the doors are jalousie. Since they’re so old they do leak like sieves, but it would be thousands to replace. Whatever insulation was in the walls has long since given up the goose. You learn little tricks. You make it work.
I used to run bills in the $30 – $35 range in the summer, but that was 15 years ago. I think it’s just gone up and gone up.”
Suprina Byrd, receives disability assistance
City: St. Petersburg
Highest summer bill: $881 in August
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature(s): 78 degrees during the day, 75 at night
Housing details: 860-square foot house built in 1956.
What they said: “I receive disability. I just received a notice yesterday saying if I don’t pay my utility bill that my electricity would be cut out today. So I had to get an extension on that for the third of next month, and I still don’t know how I’m going to pay it.
I did find an agency that helped me pay the bill, but it’s still recurring so I don’t know what to do.
I have my sister here with me. She’s on an oxygen machine. They gave me paperwork to send from her doctor to let (Duke Energy) know that she’s really on the oxygen machine. But they’re saying that it’s not gonna stop me from getting my bills.”
Hansen Baizan, self-employed in sales
City: Tampa
Highest summer bill: $484 in July
Utility provider: Tampa Electric
Thermostat temperature: About 75 during the day and 78 at night, with a window air conditioning unit in the bedroom turned down to 68
Housing details: About 3,100 square feet. House built in 1984. Energy-efficient doors and windows with an old central air conditioner that gets twice-yearly preventative maintenance. He cleans the air filters every two months.
What they said: “This has to be the highest (bill) we’ve ever received, and we’ve been in the house since December of ‘98.
It was either one of two things: Either it was so hot, this is like a climate change kind of thing, or TECO’s rate increase went into effect and bang — this is how it socked everybody.
As I was telling my wife, we can afford to pay this, but if my mother is having to pay something like this, it would be like half her Social Security check.
… There’s a buzz going on in the community about everybody’s electric bill. Everybody’s bill is just a shocker.”
Maria Vesperi and Jay Sokolovsky, retired professors
City: St. Petersburg
Highest summer bill: $707 in August
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: 78 in the daytime and at night upstairs, while the downstairs goes to 82 nightly (each floor has a separate air conditioning unit).
Housing details: House built in 1920 with about 3,280 square feet, plus a pool and a hot tub that use electricity.
What they said: “We routinely have summer bills in the 400s, sometimes a little more, but this was a shocker.
We really thought it would be lower because we redid all the windows upstairs — 19 windows, they’re hurricane-proof and airtight. Before we had windows probably from the ’40s.
We’ve noticed a difference in the house but it certainly wasn’t reflected in the electric bill.”
LaToya McCalla, homeless shelter manager
City: Tampa
Highest summer bill: $406.21 in July
Utility provider: Tampa Electric
Thermostat temperature: 78 day and night
Housing details: Single family, 1,200-square-foot home built in 2005
What they said: “I’ve been asking (myself) lately: ‘Do I use my AC? Should I turn on my fan?’ I have to make these decisions about whether I want to use hot water.
With grocery prices going up, my water bill, my mortgage, and now my electric bill, I’ve been living paycheck-to-paycheck.
I’m a single mother, and for the first time this year I’ve had to ask TECO to do extended payments. I pay half of my bill, and once my check hits, I pay off the other half.
I’m just hoping that, somehow, TECO could lower these rates. At the end of the day, I make sure my bills are paid. But I’m just trying to stay afloat.”
Louis Mignacca, retired chef
City: Clearwater
Highest summer bill: $347 in August
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: 76
Housing details: 101-year-old wood frame home
What they said: “I live in a little two-bedroom house that I rent. The house is about 100 years old. Never ever have I paid a bill that high, ever.
I wouldn’t be against if the city of Clearwater, or Pinellas County all together, develops their own energy system. I’d be open for the discussion of that.
Hopefully it would bring the rates down to where it’s more based on a nonprofit idea versus a for-profit energy company. It would be more of a collective system, where our bills were based on usage and maintenance, instead of profit for shareholders.
Instead of making money, it would be reinvested back into the infrastructure somehow. But Duke is all for profit.”
How much would it cost Clearwater to leave Duke Energy? City works toward answer
Peter Westmoreland, ethics professor
City: St. Petersburg
Highest summer bill: $524 in July
Utility provider: Duke Energy
Thermostat temperature: 76 to 78
Housing details: About 2,700-square-foot house built in 1971. Newer appliances, and replaced all windows about two years ago. A large Cuban Laurel tree used to shade one side of the home where the thermostat was, but the tree fell during Hurricane Milton.
What they said: “The bills seem high. In context, our neighborhood tends to get power restored later when there are major storms. So that’s a point of frustration. With Irma we lost power for six days. With one of the storms last year, it was six days.
It doesn’t seem like restoration of service is reflected, given the kind of bills that are being paid.
We’re OK. I think about other people, how difficult it is for them.”
Walter Turnbull, geo-technical engineer
City: Brandon
Highest summer bill: $422.72 in June
Utility provider: Tampa Electric
Thermostat temperature: 78 during the day, 72 at night
Housing details: 1,800-square-foot manufactured home built in 2008, Tinted windows, sealed doors and energy-efficient appliances.
What they said: “I’m an engineer, so I’d consider myself a numbers guy. I recently pulled up my bill from August 2024 and compared it to August 2025. It’s gone up 26.29% per kilowatt-hour. That’s pretty wild.
My wife and I both work good jobs, but it’s been an increase across the board for us on our utility bill. We do what we can to make our home more efficient, and could probably do more. But energy efficiency aside, the increase is still so big.
I was watching the TECO rate case very closely, and I’m still not sure how they got away with that.
It’s such a slap in the face of consumers, and I really do believe that the systems in place to protect us have instead completely failed us.”
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The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida‘s most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here.