Tampa Electric bills have climbed roughly 60% since 2016, pushing the utility's typical monthly charge to the eighth-highest in the nation. For Apollo Beach and Ruskin households served by TECO, the increases add up to hundreds of dollars more a year, with no option to switch providers.

A WUSF investigation published Monday found that TECO's typical residential bill hit $195 a month in 2025, based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data. All four of Florida's investor-owned utilities ranked in the top 50 nationally.

People on fixed incomes have felt the increases most. Thaddeus Williams, a 75-year-old retired veteran living on Social Security in Tampa, told WUSF he pays about $300 a month for power and sometimes uses candlelight to cut costs.

"TECO is just — they're going up and up and up and up," Williams said. "You know, it shouldn't be this high for electricity."

Cost-recovery charges, Apollo Beach plant upgrades drive bills

A typical TECO bill now carries nine separate line items. Cost-recovery clauses account for up to half the total, according to Walt Trierweiler, who leads the Office of Public Counsel, the state agency that represents energy consumers before the Florida Public Service Commission.

One of those charges has a local connection. TECO's "clean energy transition mechanism charge" pays to retire two old coal-fired units and modernize Unit 1 at the Big Bend Power Station in Apollo Beach, according to TECO spokesperson Cherie Jacobs. It also covers the utility's smart-meter rollout.

Over the past decade, TECO has raised fuel charges four times and lowered them once, Jacobs said.

In Tampa, one in five households spends more than 6% of its income on home energy, a threshold researchers call a "high energy burden," according to a May 2026 report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Adults over 65, renters, low-income households and Black households face the heaviest costs, the report found.

Recent cuts still leave bills above pre-2020 levels

Bills have started to come down. A decrease of 11% to 12% took effect in August when TECO's storm-recovery charge ended a month ahead of schedule, saving residential customers about $20 on every 1,000 kilowatt-hours, as the Tribune reported Sept. 10. Tampa Electric has also asked the commission for an additional 1.5% cut that would bring a 1,000-kWh bill to $154.13 starting in January 2027.

Even at $154, the typical monthly bill would remain well above pre-2020 levels. Florida is one of only four states where the law bars customers from buying electricity from anyone other than their assigned utility, Susan Glickman of the CLEO Institute, a climate nonprofit, told WUSF in a companion report on the commission.

Hillsborough County households can apply for aid

Hillsborough County residents struggling with electric bills can apply for the federally funded Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program through the county's Human Services office. Households must earn no more than 60% of the state median income. Priority goes to homes with children 5 or younger, adults 60 or older, or members with disabilities.

The commission is scheduled to consider TECO's proposed rate cut Nov. 3, the next milestone for local ratepayers.