Tampa Electric Company: billing error
Dispute the bill with Tampa Electric, ask for a free meter test if usage looks wrong, then call the Florida PSC.
What does this mean?
Grade B (good: mostly official pages; check the flagged values before relying on them). 88% of 33 sources are the organization's own pages or government sites.
Collect
- the disputed bill
- earlier bills
- meter photos with dates
- call notes with names and reference numbers
Steps
Call Customer Care, explain the charge and the correct amount. Get a reference number.
If usage looks wrong, ask Tampa Electric to test the meter. You may ask to witness the test and for a PSC representative to witness it.
Put the dispute in writing through the contact form.
If not resolved, call the Florida PSC at 1-800-342-3552.
Facts you can cite
- Fee
The Florida PSC says a customer can ask the utility to test the meter at no cost if it has not been tested within the last 12 months, may witness the test, and may ask for an FPSC representative to witness it. If the meter runs outside Commission limits, the testing cost is refunded.
Source: floridapsc.com, verified 2026-10-13
- Process
If a billing complaint cannot be resolved with the utility, the Florida PSC says to call its Office of Consumer Assistance & Outreach at 1-800-342-3552.
Source: floridapsc.com, verified 2026-10-13
- Deadline
Tampa Electric bills are due when rendered and become delinquent twenty (20) days after mailing or delivery.
Source: tampaelectric.com, verified 2026-10-13
Rules in force
- Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) negative option requirements15 U.S.C. 8401-8405
A seller that charges consumers online through a negative option feature (for example an automatic renewal or a free trial that converts to paid) must clearly disclose all material terms before taking billing information, get the consumer's express informed consent before charging, and provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. The FTC enforces ROSCA.
Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12
1 citable point
- Policy
The seller must obtain "a consumer's express informed consent before charging the consumer's credit card, debit card, bank account, or other financial account".
Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
If that fails, escalate
Go up one step at a time. Keep the reference numbers and dates from each contact.
Customer service
Supervisor
Ask for a supervisor. Write down the name and reference number.
Written complaint
State agency
Your state’s utility commission. Find it in the list of state agencies (also as JSON:
states/<code>.json, for example states/ny.json).Florida Public Service Commission, Office of Consumer Assistance & Outreach, 1-800-342-3552. The PSC says to contact the utility first and to contact the PSC if you do not hear back in a reasonable time or are not satisfied.
State agency
Your state’s attorney general. Find it in the list of state agencies (also as JSON:
states/<code>.json, for example states/ny.json).Florida Attorney General.
Watch out
- Payment arrangements and online payment need a TECO account sign-in at account.tecoenergy.com.
- The claim form PDF and the tariff PDFs are encrypted; some automated readers cannot extract their text.
- The scam page's "Report a Scam" link has no address in the fetched page; use Customer Care to verify or report.
Let your AI agent handle this
Escalate Anything is a free, open-source MCP server for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, Codex and other AI apps. Your agent gets this playbook, keeps a case log with reference numbers and follow-up dates, and drafts each message for you to approve.
1. Set it up (needs uv):
uvx escalate-anything setup2. Ask your agent:
Tampa Electric Company charged me [amount] on [date] for something I did not order. Use Escalate Anything to get it corrected.Source code, other install options and the Claude Code plugin