JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JEA customers who want to pay their bills using a debit or credit card will have to pay a service vendor fee starting next month, the city-owned utility announced to customers on Thursday.
Beginning Monday, Sept. 30, JEA debit and credit payments made via jea.com or the interactive phone system will include a vendor service fee of $2.35 for bills up to $400.
Payments between $400.01 and $1,000 will come with a $8.95 service fee and payments between $1,000.01 and $10,000 will cost an extra $150.
News4JAX reached out to JEA asking when or why JEA decided to reinstate the fees.
A spokesperson for the company responded and said they were not sure of the exact point JEA decided to bring them back, but said they’d been absorbing the vendor fees since waiving them.
“The fee is a pass-through cost charged by JEA’s payment processing vendor, Kubra. JEA does not profit in any way from the fee,” the spokesperson said.
Since October 2022, JEA absorbed the credit/debit card fees, and those costs continued to escalate. From October 2022 through July 2024, JEA covered more than $9 million in customer fees.
“We understand this may be challenging for some JEA customers who have depended on credit card use for bill payment. JEA wants to ensure we’re fair to all customers, no matter their choice of payment,” JEA said.
During the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 budget years, JEA had no expenses for credit card fees, but in 2022-2023, JEA spent nearly $5 million. For 2023-2024, JEA’s forecasted expense is around $5.6 million.
News4JAX spoke to JEA customers outside of its headquarters Friday afternoon about the reinstatement. One of them was Sammantha.
“It’s frustrating because the prices have gone up a lot,” Sammantha said.
She said as someone who pays her bills by phone this would impact her. She also said her monthly bill is usually between $270 and $280, meaning she would pay the $2.35 service vendor fee.
She noted it may sound like a small fee to others, but for her, as the only one who pays bills in her house every dollar matters.
Another person News4JAX spoke with said this doesn’t bother her too much because she pays her bills in person and she understands that companies need to make money. But they did wonder why JEA got rid of the fees in October of 2022.
JEA said it did it because people were struggling during the pandemic.
They also want people to know payments made by cash, check or using a bank account will remain fee-free.