Here\u2019s what people across Tampa Bay are paying for electricity<\/a><\/p>\n Retired and on a fixed income, Parris has struggled this year to keep up.<\/p>\n After Hurricane Helene\u2019s storm surge flooded her home last fall, she lost her car, her furniture, a new washer and dryer. The salt water also damaged her air conditioner, which she replaced about a month after the storm.<\/p>\n Then she watched this year as her Duke charges climbed:<\/p>\n $170.09 in May.<\/p>\n $258.06 in June, a payment she missed.<\/p>\n $314.85 in July, which ballooned to more than $500 counting what she still owed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so so stressful and daunting,\u201d Parris said. \u201cI deal with financial pressures every day like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Lowell Ungar, director of federal policy for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a national advocacy group, said that while codes for traditional houses have been constantly improving to require builders to make them more efficient, mobile home regulations haven\u2019t budged in decades.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of their energy equipment and components, they\u2019re not built very well,\u201d he said, referring to the homes\u2019 insulation, windows and water heaters, for example. \u201cThe federal code hasn\u2019t been changed since 1994 \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t very strong then.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike other types of housing, mobile homes are only subject to federal energy standards, not state building codes. In 2007, Congress recognized that these requirements were too weak and passed a law directing the U.S. Department of Energy to update them. That still hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n The agency released updated rules in 2022, but delays to their compliance date, bureaucratic back-and-forth and pressure from the manufactured home industry has led to a \u201clong saga\u201d of delays, Ungar said.<\/p>\n A bill in Congress called the Affordable HOMES Act, a Republican-sponsored measure that is advancing with the support of some Democrats, would roll back the Department of Energy\u2019s most recent attempt to update the standards and block the agency from setting future ones.<\/p>\n Proponents contend that stricter standards will make new homes cost more for consumers, an argument that Ungar said is outweighed by the larger savings on energy bills, which result in lower monthly costs even with a slightly higher mortgage.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is beyond frustrating that this has dragged on now for, depending how you count, 30 years since the energy code was last updated and 18 years since Congress told the Department of Energy to fix the problem,\u201d Ungar said. \u201cEvery year, there\u2019s tens of thousands of new homes that stick their residents with these bills for the decades that people are in those homes.\u201d<\/p>\n Parris blames the poor insulation in her 1970s home for leaching cool air in the summer. She\u2019ll set her air conditioning to 77 degrees, but the temperature inside rises to around 87.<\/p>\n Duke representatives have told her that her new air conditioning may have been installed improperly, Parris said, and have explained that her kilowatt usage is double what they would expect of a home her size.<\/p>\n Poor insulation exacerbates costs that are already rising because of hikes<\/a> to base rates<\/a> and \u2014 particularly stark this year \u2014 steep hurricane recovery fees from 2024\u2019s disastrous season.<\/p>\n Why Tampa Bay electric bills were so high in 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Brad Coath paid more when he bought his mobile home to get it upgraded with extra insulation. It\u2019s paid off, he said, as he\u2019s noticed it holds its temperature well in the summer. Still, Coath, a 66-year-old retired nurse, has seen the bills for his St. Petersburg mobile home swell.<\/p>\n He\u2019s enrolled in Duke\u2019s budget billing program, which averages out bills across each quarter to make them more predictable. They went from around $150 to over $200 this summer, prompting him to cut back on travel and put off bigger expenses.<\/p>\n \u201cI get so tired of the PSCjust rubber-stamping everything that comes across their desks,\u201d Coath said, referring to the Florida Public Service Commission that approves utility hikes<\/a>. \u201cDo these people not get bills? How do I get that job?\u201d<\/p>\n Duke Energy has emphasized that the storm cost recovery charge, which is around $32 monthly for a household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours, will fall off bills in March, which is also when a separate seasonal discount kicks in. Tampa Electric\u2019s hurricane fee, which is about $20 per month for the same energy use, will last longer, until September 2026.<\/p>\n Both companies noted they have programs to help mobile home residents improve their efficiency, like home energy audits that can lead to discounts. Duke, for example, offers rebates<\/a> up to $600 for air conditioner replacements to qualifying mobile homeowners, and smaller rebates for duct repair. They are funded by all Duke customers through a charge on their bills.<\/p>\n Edward Cifelli, 83, moved to Dade City with his wife almost 20 years ago because the rolling pastureland reminded them of their longtime New Jersey home.<\/p>\n Electric bills for their double-wide usually hover around $200, an amount they can manage even as the rent for the lot their home sits on continues to creep upward.<\/p>\n But in August, their Duke bill hit $300 for the first time Cifelli can remember. He doesn\u2019t understand why utilities charge residents for hurricanes when those should be an expected part of doing business in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem right to me that we pay a certain amount of money, and when it gets a little expensive for them, they make us pay extra,\u201d he said. \u201cOld people are always concerned about outliving their savings, and that\u2019s where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/74787178c590aed5fddbc53b92979704.jpeg\"\/)
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