Your Billing Experience
To make more informed decisions about your energy usage to save energy and money, view your Interactive Bill for personalized insights and energy-saving recommendations.
How to read your Bill
Looking for an overview of your bill? Learn about the different sections of your bill by selecting your bill from the list.
Note: The various bill types are for informational purposes only. Your actual rates and charges may vary.
Standard Commercial Customer
Large Supply Demand TOU Customer
Lighting Customer
Summary Billing Customer
Totalizer Customer
Natural Gas & Electric Combination
Features of your Bill
When you receive your Paper Bill from Tampa Electric, you’ll see the following components:
Account Summary & Messaging
The account summary component highlights information of high importance to you, offers easy payment options and detailed messaging regarding your bill.
Billing Insights and Recommendations
Make informed decisions about your bill by viewing the billing insights component. It shows a monthly and yearly usage comparison with actionable recommendations on how to save money and energy, just for you!
Robust Usage Chart
The Interactive Bill features both a daily and monthly usage graph, with the ability to see how temperature data affects your bill. You can choose to view temperature data, usage data, or cost data by using the controls on the graph.
Billing Summary & Charge Explanations
The Billing Summary shows a clear layout of all your charges with a distinction between utility charges and taxes. Want to know what a charge means? You’ll have the ability to click on the question mark next to your charge for a definition.Billing FAQ
Paper Bill
A. Scroll to the bottom of this webpage to access the terms and definitions that apply to your bill. You also can understand your charges by clicking on the tooltip on the Interactive Bill.
A. Scanning the QR code will take you to your online account to access your Interactive Bill.
Follow the steps below:
- Open the camera application on your mobile device
- Hover the camera over the QR Code until it is visible on the screen
- A border appears around the QR Code, and a link appears on the screen
- Once the link is visible through your camera, click on it
- This directs you to your Tampa Electric account
- Login to account using your username and password
Interactive Bill
A. The Interactive Bill is a resource for you to access personalized insights, view important messages regarding your billing, understand bill fluctuations, and more.
The Paper Bill and the Interactive Bill are built to work together seamlessly. While the Paper Bill simplifies your billing information, the Interactive Bill provides a thorough overview of your usage details and account history, allowing you to dive deeper into areas of interest.
To access your Interactive Bill, go to TECOAccount.com.
A. No, the Interactive Bill is a tool available for you to use in addition to your Paper Bill. The Interactive Bill displays the same information as your Paper Bill but includes more details on your energy use, as well as personalized insights and energy-saving recommendations. To access your Interactive Bill, go to TECOAccount.com.
A. The Interactive Bill will reflect near real-time information reflecting any payments made, current balance, and any other adjustments to the bill.
A. Yes, only those with the account username and password can log in and view your billing information. Learn more about our privacy policy.
A. If you receive a Paper Bill in the mail or a paperless bill, it will have a QR code that, when scanned, will direct you to your online Interactive Bill. After logging in, you’ll be taken directly to your Interactive Bill. You can also sign in at TECOAccount.com then then select a billing period to access your interactive bill for that timeframe.
Please note: To access the interactive version of your bill, you must create an online account or sign into your existing account.
Accessibility
A. Yes, the bill has gone through extensive ADA testing to make sure all components that are included can be acknowledged by all.
Paperless Billing
A. To switch your billing preference to Paperless, you’ll need to login to your account and click Paperless Billing from the main landing page. Under settings, there is a toggle to turn paperless billing on or off.
A. Yes! As a Paperless customer, you will receive an email each month, also known as a Paperless Notification, letting you know that your bill is ready to be viewed and paid. You can compare your actual bill to the annotated version of your type of bill in “How to Read your Bill” section above.
Typical charges that appear on your electric bill
Basic Service Charge
The monthly Basic Service Charge covers the cost of maintaining your electric meter and the wires that bring electrical service to your home or business. It also covers the cost of reading the meter, maintaining customer records and accounting for bill payments, credit and other transactions. Every customer incurs this charge – even if electricity isn't used during the month.
Energy Charge
The monthly Energy Charge includes all other costs of producing the electricity you purchase, except fuel. This includes conservation, environmental and capacity cost recovery charges.
Fuel Charge
The monthly Fuel Charge translates to the cost of fuel used to produce your electricity. Fuel costs are passed through from our fuel suppliers to you with no markup. Depending on the programs you participate in, you may see other items on your bill such as Zap Cap Systems®, Renewable Energy, Outdoor Lighting, Share, and others.
Average kWh per day – The average amount of electricity purchased per day.
Basic Service Charge – A fixed daily amount that covers the cost to provide service to your location. This charge is billed monthly regardless of any electricity used.
Bright ChoicesSM – The associated fees and charges for leased outdoor lighting services.
Budget Billing – Optional plan averages your home’s last 12 monthly billing periods so you pay the same amount for your service each month.
Clean Energy Transition Mechanism (CETM) – A charge to recover costs associated with electric meter upgrades and the closing of certain coal generating plants to support Tampa Electric’s transition to produce clean energy.
Energy Charge – For residential, small commercial and lighting customers, includes the cost (except fuel) of producing and delivering the electricity you purchased, including conservation, environmental and capacity cost recovery charges. For other customers, the three cost recovery charges appear as separate line items.
Estimated – If Tampa Electric was unable to read your meter, “ESTIMATED” will appear. Your meter will be read next month, and any difference will be adjusted accordingly.
Florida Gross Receipts Tax – A tax is imposed on gross receipts from utility services that are delivered to retail customers in Florida, in accordance with Chapter 203 of the Florida Statutes. Utility companies collect the tax from all customers, unless exempt, and remit to the state.
Florida State Tax – A tax imposed on every person who engages in the business of selling or renting tangible personal property at retail in the state, in accordance with Chapter 212 of the Florida Statutes.
Franchise Fee – A fee levied by a municipality for the right to utilize public property to provide electric service. The fee is collected by Tampa Electric and paid to the municipality.
Fuel Charge – Cost of fuel used to produce electricity you purchased. Fuel costs are passed through from fuel suppliers to our customers with no markup or profit to Tampa Electric.
Kilowatt-Hours (kWh) – The basic measurement of electric energy use.
Late Payment Charge – For past due amounts more than $10, the late payment charge is the greater of $5 or 1.5% of the past due amount. For past due amounts of $10 or less, the late payment charge is 1.5% of the past due amount.
Municipal Public Service Tax – Many municipalities levy a tax on the electricity you use. It is collected by Tampa Electric and paid to the municipality.
Past Due – Previous charges that are past due are subject to a late payment charge fee and may result in disconnection.
Prime Time PlusSM – A residential program that offers a monthly credit on your electric bill for allowing Tampa Electric to temporarily interrupt power to certain appliances during periods of extremely high demand for electricity.
Rate Schedule – The amount (rate) you pay depends on your customer category. The cost of providing service varies with the customer group.
Share – A Tampa Electric program that helps pay energy bills for customers in need. Want to help? Your tax-deductible contribution is matched by Tampa Electric and is administered by a third-party.
Storm Protection Charge – The cost of additional hardening efforts to further protect the power grid from hurricanes or other extreme weather events.
Storm Surcharge – The charge that will recover the cost of storms charged to the storm reserve.
Sun SelectSM – The cost of producing energy you purchased from dedicated solar generation facilities. You pay no fuel charge for the Sun Select portion of your bill.
Sun to GoSM – The amount of electricity purchased from solar generating sources serving the Sun to Go program, which provides optional renewable energy purchases in 200 kWh blocks.
Total Amount Due – This month’s charges will be past due after the date shown. THIS DATE DOES NOT EXTEND THE DATE ON ANY PREVIOUS BALANCE. It’s important that you pay your bill before this date to avoid interruption of service.
Zap Cap Systems® – Surge protection for your home or business sold separately as a non-energy charge.
View terms and definitions that apply to a Peoples Gas bill.
About bill estimating
On rare occasions we may have to estimate a billing amount based on past customer electricity usage. In the unlikely event that a meter does not transmit a reading or we’re unable to access the meter, we’ll estimate using a multi-step calculation that takes into account your prior electric usage as well as recent weather impacts. This helps us make an accurate estimate when a physical reading is not possible. Any needed corrections will be reflected on your following billing statement.
