JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fuel costs and supply chain issues are still hammering local utilities.
JEA’s Board of Trustees on Wednesday morning went over their strategic outlook working to plan for an uncertain future.
There are some predictions about utility bills, but they’re not set in stone.
Wednesday’s meeting was about checking in on the situation mid-year and trying to adjust their plans based on things like still-higher than standard fuel prices and the supply chain.
“The fuel costs is the amount of money we have to pay in order to create our electricity. And as other prices have gone up, as you see at the gas pump, and other places, natural gas and other commodities have also gone up,” said JEA CEO Jay Stowe.
Up by more than 4.5% for the average residential utility bill next year.
In 2024, projections show a slight decrease of one or two percent on your bill, then, small incremental increases from there. But these are still just projections, not set in stone. JEA leaders said they still have to watch a litany of factors to decide what moves to make.
Another big factor right now is a slow supply chain.
“Supply chain is also an issue that is across the board, not just for utilities. If you’re trying to get an appliance, or even cars right now, there’s significantly long lead times. That same thing is happening to us for transformers, and other supplies that it takes for us to do our business to maintain a resilient and reliable system,” Stowe said.
To combat this, budget leaders are strategically organizing how often they order materials, like spot-buying or buying less or more often.
Still, it’s likely going to have an impact on your monthly bill, though it’s not clear how much of one.
A few changes on a more optimistic side: Customers will not have to pay that $2 or $3 fee to pay their bills with a credit or debit card starting in October. Also, for customers with a clean payment history, you’ll be getting your deposit back in 12 months instead of 24. And, for the first time, JEA is working to develop a mobile app to make paying bills and arranging services faster and easier, though that project is likely a year away.
News4JAX asked Stowe how the fuel costs are going to affect next month’s bills for customers and what should they be expecting.
“So the pressure on natural gas and the energy cost is going up. And so we’re going to continue to manage our business the best way we can so that we can try to have affordable rates for our customers, and that they can, we’ll keep on working on that with them,” Stowe said.
It’s also important to remember that today’s retreat was about the company’s financial outlook.
If there were any permanent rate hikes they would have to be announced, discussed publicly and then voted and approved publicly.