A couple dozen protesters rallied in West Tampa on Saturday against the high cost of electricity.
They chanted "burn the bill" and "burn it" as they threw their Tampa Electric paper bills into a metal trash can spewing smoke from a machine inside.
"Burn the bill symbolically, of course, because we're environmentalists,” one clean energy advocate said, followed by group laughter.
They're led by the Sierra Club's Walter L. Smith II.
"We're getting bills and stories right now of people who are suffering terribly. They're being evicted from their homes, and children being taken from homes. We have people who can't pay for medication," he said.
WUSF reported back in September how Tampa Electric residential customers paid the highest bills across the state and the second highest in the country last June at an average $242.05.
ALSO READ: Why TECO's June bills averaged the highest in Florida and second highest in U.S.
In an email, a spokesperson for Tampa Electric said a portion of this year's bills includes the cost of recovering from last year's destructive hurricane season, but it will end next September, dropping residential bills by about $20.
The spokesperson also pointed to a financial assistance program, along with budget billing.
If you're having a hard time paying your electric bill, check out your options at TampaElectric.com/PayAssist.
Activists are upset about the company likely getting another increase finalized on Tuesday as part of subsequent year adjustments to the base rate hike the Public Service Commission approved in 2024.
Brooke Ward, with Food and Water Watch, put the coming rate adjustment into context.
"Tampa Electric customers will be paying $939 more dollars a year for electricity than they were just five years ago. This has got to stop," Ward said.
“That is why we need to be calling on the legislators in Tallahassee to do something about this, to pass affordable energy now, to reform the utility regulators so that we can have accountable and affordable energy prices.”
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, joined the bill burning event at the Dr. Walter Smith Library & Museum.
She said generating electricity through solar instead of gas would help to lower bills along with climate pollution.
And she touched on recent federal legislation ending tax incentives for solar installation at the end of this year.
"Taking away the incentives for utilities like TECO to build more clean solar power – that has a cost,” Castor said.
“What they have done now in federal law is they have canceled clean energy projects across the country: Solar for All, that was going to bring more solar to the state of Florida. Offshore wind projects, projects that have made it all the way through the permitting pipeline and were ready to go online to provide cleaner, cheaper energy.”
Tampa city council member Lynn Hurtak agreed with the congresswoman saying the Sunshine State should be relying more on solar energy.
"We're asking for a partnership with TECO to do just that: Look at more solar, stop the reliance on natural gas … and focus on the clean energy that we have so much of in this phenomenal state,” she said.
Ultimately, the advocates and residents are at the mercy of the investor-owned utility and the state commission which regulates it.
ALSO READ: Pinellas cities wanting to unplug from Duke Energy should energize themselves for a battle
But some Tampa Bay area cities are considering becoming independent from their monopoly power company: St. Petersburg and Clearwater are looking into unplugging from Duke Energy.
Clearwater officials voted to study what it would take to create their own municipal electric utility, while St. Petersburg considers what to do about its 30-year Duke contract ending in August.
While this type of move could ultimately lower energy bills, there’s a good chance of long and costly legal battles.
