Why is it that everywhere I live there’s a power company that holds a 100% monopoly? This article is for everyone that’s sick of having to deal with companies such as Florida Power and Light that hold a monopoly on their market.
Last year in August I moved. When I moved in, I inquired with the landlord how much the electrical costs were per month. I was told that the cost was around ~$180.00 per month. In reality, the first power bill we received was well over $500.00. What the landlord had neglected to tell me was that he rarely used the A/C and that the unit actually was extremely inefficient in the way it cools the house. For those of you that don’t live in the tropics, having to run the A/C is exactly like having to run the heat all year around.
Seeing that my budget is rather tight I had problems coming up with the money on time in the beginning. I had enrolled in their auto pay system, however due to a mistake on their end, one of my payments wasn’t charged to my account and I got kicked off the auto pay system. Ironically the ‘auto pay’ system was setup like this: You go online, enter all your information in their account manager, schedule the payment but then you have to call them up anyway to make sure the payment was made. I didn’t grow up in this country so I guess I have a different understanding of the word ‘automatic’. Where I grew up, it literally means that the action will be taken automatically, otherwise it’s referred to as ‘manual’ but again - my non comprehension of this concept may be attributed to my difference in upbringing.
After my auto bill pay failed, I was forced to pay cash only, everytime the bill was due. No offense, but out of all the items I have to take care of running to some payment location isn’t exactly a good way to spend my time. Now where I’m current on all my payments, I don’t owe a dime - they are now forcing me to pay a $750.00 deposit. I don’t have that money, nor do I understand what they’re trying to accomplish with this. If I’m constantly short, how would I come up with this deposit? This deposit sits in a bank and probably gains interest and it’s locked for 2 years!!!
So here I am, not quite sure what to do. I’m considering changing the name on the account to get around this, or maybe calling a TV station and start a complaint about the tactics that are being used by FPL. Fact is this - they have the monopoly - there are no alternatives and the last time I checked you do need power to get by in life. Am I the only person that finds something wrong with this?
