TAMPA BAY, Fla. — About 16,000 of TECO’s 80,000 budget billing customers are facing higher monthly payments after TECO said there was a system error.
The Budget Billing program “averages” a customer’s annual costs to smooth out the bill over the year instead of having highs and lows.
TECO told ABC Action News, “Although the total energy use was tallied correctly, the monthly “average payment” did not include the entire year."
In the notice that went out to budget billing customer Pat Hargraves and others in August TECO said it miscalculated the payment. Instead of averaging a year's worth of bills it only included 11 months. For some budget billing customers, the error resulted in an unusually high deferred balance.
Hargraves said her bill went up $100 a month. Another TECO budget billing customer Pat Fisher told ABC Action News her bill went up $200 a month. Both wanted to know how a miscalculation of one month could add up to $1,200 to $24,00 for the year.
ABC Action News asked TECO how they came up with the amounts. TECO explained there were a number of factors that led to the jump in bills.
- Deferred balances go up in the summer because usage is higher.
- This particular summer had record-breaking temperatures, and energy use was very high (which pushed up deferred balances).
- In addition, bills rose this year due to a nationalincrease in fuel costs, which also added to the deferred balance.
“All of those things are in addition to the 1 month’s use that was excluded from the calculation,” said TECO spokesperson Cherie Jacobs.
Hargraves, who is semi-retired, told ABC Action News she simply could not afford an extra $100 a month. We put her in touch with TECO, who said they are working with customers who face hardship by giving them up to two years to pay the deferred balance.
And there is also a payment assistance program for those who qualify. Affected customers can call TECO at 888-223-0800.
