The recent record-setting cold spell began Jan. 3 and continued through Jan. 11. West Central Florida had not felt such sustained cold weather since the mid-1980s.
Why your bill may be higher this month
It takes more electricity to heat your house than to cool your house. When it’s 90 degrees outside and you’re cooling your home to 78, you need only enough energy to lower the temperature 12 degrees. But when it’s 30 degrees outside and you’re heating your home to 70, you have to use enough energy to effect a 40-degree change in temperature.
Helping customers in need
If you or someone you care for needs advice or financial assistance with an electric bill, visit our Community Resources page. Here, you will find a list of organizations, including the Florida 2-1-1 Network, that may be able to help.
Our new online solar calculator can help residential and business customers determine how much it will cost to install their own solar panel systems. The average residential solar installation is about 5 kilowatts (kW), while the average commercial PV system is about 25 kW in size. View the news release.
Tampa Electric offers several energy-efficiency programs to both residential and business customers. The initiatives, such as the innovative Energy PlannerSM program, are designed to make it easy for customers to save energy through responsible usage.
Our online forms make it easy for you to make bill payments, turn on, turn off or transfer service, report a power outage, change your mailing address or phone number and more from your computer without the need to speak to a Customer Care representative. Check out our Customer Service page to learn more.
Tampa Electric’s free environmental education facility features new exhibits, games for kids and a hurricane simulator. That’s in addition to the vibrant Florida plants and birds on display and – when the water temperature of Tampa Bay falls below 68 degrees Fahrenheit – manatees up close in the wild. From Nov. 1 through April 15, join the more than 2.7 million visitors who since 1986 have to come to experience a unique destination in Apollo Beach.
On the go? Take us with youTampa Electric has launched a new mobile Web site specifically optimized for mobile devices and smart phones. You can access Tampa Electric’s Customer Care contact numbers, payment mailing address, payment locations and even link to online bill payment. The mobile site will also provide safety information and updates on power outages with estimated restoration times. Visit the mobile site from your mobile device at m.tampaelectric.com. Read the news release.
Our new outage map provides real-time power outage information that is updated every 15 minutes. Find out the size of the outage, estimated restoration time and approximate number of customers affected. The outage map page also includes a toll-free number to report an outage through our automated power outage system, safety tips and more. Read the media release.
To report a power outage or electrical emergency such as a downed power line, call Tampa Electric’s dedicated toll-free automated system at 1-877-588-1010. The system can recognize your phone number when you call, matching it to your address to help us locate outages quickly. To best utilize the system, we ask that you update your primary and alternate telephone numbers using our easy forms for residential or business customers. If you do not have your phone number updated in our system when you call, you will need to enter your Tampa Electric account number. In the event severe weather forces evacuation of our call center, our new Mutual Assistance Routing System enables customer service representatives from other utilities to answer your calls.
Use the online form to let us know when streetlights or area lights are out or malfunctioning in your neighborhood.
