JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In an update provided to the city this week, JEA said the moratorium on service disconnections because of the coronavirus pandemic will end next month.
JEA said to avoid having service cut off, customers must contact the utility by phone or at JEA.com to pay their balance due, request a payment extension or make a payment arrangement.
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Customers can also sign up for MyWay prepay billing.
JEA said it is partnering with some local charities to help get customers who need it financial aid to keep the power and water on.
The utility said customers who will need help need to contact JEA as soon as possible to make sure applications for aid can have time to be processed before disconnections begin.
JEA said that as of June 3, 22,000 accounts, including 974 business accounts, are eligible for disconnection if the customers don’t get in touch with the utility to make payment arrangements.
Among other changes, JEA said it is trying to make it easier for customers to avoid service disruption by:
- Expanding the standard term for payment arrangements for residential customers from three to nine months, interest-free; terms for small business customers will expand from six to nine months, interest-free.
- Relaxing the qualifiers for payment extensions to allow more customers to qualify and self-serve through jea.com or the IVR system.
- Allowing customers ineligible for deposit waivers to pay half of the deposit rather than the full deposit to start service; additional deposit assessments on existing small business accounts will be suspended through October 2020.
- Reinstating MyWay prepay enrollment for residential customers and opening it to some small businesses; this service only requires a $50 down payment for residential accounts and $100 for business accounts.
- Suspending credit card convenience fees (Visa, MasterCard, Discover), late fees and certain deposits through October 2020.
For more information go to https://www.jea.com/.