Community For Home

A surprise visit from Tampa Electric lights the way to a family’s new beginning

Messages from young Ali to Tampa Electric.
Messages from young Ali to Tampa Electric.

When Rachel, Wayne and Ali, their kindergartner, lost their home to a fire in 2015, they didn’t lose Tampa Electric as the electric provider proud to have them among our more than 730,000 customers. With workers rebuilding their house, the Tampa family spent months in an apartment. The fire could’ve been far worse – they were thankful that it wasn’t. But their temporary residence simply wasn’t the same thing as home.

On June 23, Rachel learned her family would have to vacate their apartment by the end of that month. The timing was particularly bad: while close to being ready, the house still wasn’t suitable for residents. Specifically, the city of Tampa had just issued an inspection permit to enable Tampa Electric to install the home’s electric meter – required for the home to have electricity. But that process, for a host of reasons, can take a few weeks.

Julie Nail, assistant to the director of Community Relations at Tampa Electric, got a call about the family’s situation from the office of Tampa City Councilman Harry Cohen. Nail, thinking fast, knew her company might be able to help.

“I contacted Maria Ospina [customer engineering representative with Tampa Electric’s One Source New Construction team] about the possibility of getting the TECO installation done faster since we received the city release and because of Rachel’s unique circumstances,” Nail said.

When Senior Distribution Design Technician Jason Blackwell learned about the situation, he knew he was in a position to take the baton and help. He had work to do in the community nearby and took time that afternoon to complete the meter installation on his own. Then he arranged for a TECO crew – scheduled to for a planned outage to trim trees in the area the following morning – to swing by the family’s home and install the meter, with only days to spare before they would have to leave their apartment.

Rachel emailed TECO to express her thanks:

THEY ARE AT OUR HOUSE HOOKING UP OUR POWER RIGHT NOW!! 

Sorry to “yell”, I am actually crying with joy. My kindergartner asked God to help the TECO people come in her bedtime prayers last night.

I do not have the words to thank you for your help or tell you what this means to our family!!!!

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“I think what really makes this story so great is that there were so many factors that came together at the perfect time – and if one of those pieces was missing, it may not have worked out like it did,” Blackwell said.

Nail added, “The best part of this was the drawing Rachel’s daughter sent TECO. To me, it was another great example of how at this company, we care. People here know we work at an incredible place. But every now and then something like this happens and everything just clicks.”

For Rachel, Wayne and Ali, it’s a click that turns on the lights, the air conditioning and the comforts of home.

Customer last names in this story withheld for their privacy.

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