JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The JEA Board of Directors held a workshop Tuesday morning to discuss a proposed increase to electric, water and wastewater rates in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
According to the board agenda memorandum, JEA is recommending rate and structure changes to “better align revenue to specific customer class cost recoveries.”
The proposed rate adjustments would impact residential and commercial customers with a target effective date of April 1, 2025, according to JEA.
JEA customers, including Dale Rhoden, are frustrated.
“I don’t think it’s the right time,” Rhoden said. “Everything is just too expensive. My social security doesn’t pay for everything I need.”
JEA said the proposed increase is below inflation.
Electric rate recommendations
An electric bill is based on the number of kilowatt-hours (kwh) that are used each month.
Under the proposed changes, the rate adjusted for a 1,000kwh bill would be approximately 3.6% higher. According to JEA, 59% of customer bills are at 1,000 kWh or less monthly.
Click here to learn how to determine your electricity usage.
Waste & sewer rate recommendations
JEA is proposing a 6% rate revenue adjustment for water and sewer for FY-2025 and a 4.2% rate revenue for FY-2026.
For a 3/4″ meter size, there would be an increase of $0.46 for sewer for FY-2025 and a $1.76 increase for FY-2026. According to JEA, 60% of residential sewer customers use this meter size.
Residential water rates would increase by $1.23 for a 3/4″ meter for FY-2025 and $0.56 for FY-2026.
Click here to read the full document with JEA’s electric, water and sewer rate recommendations.
On Monday, JEA said the proposed rate hikes are “predominantly attributed to obligations to Plant Vogtle,” which is a nuclear power plant in Georgia providing clean energy to JEA customers.
“It was a decision made by the JEA board in May of 2008,” JEA’s Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Joe Orfano said. “It was a different time.”
Orfano said it is placing JEA’s electric system under financial strain.
“The debt service on that contract alone is approximately $190 million,” Orfano said. “We have a similar 200-megawatt Power Purchase Agreement with Florida Power and Light that has a capacity payment, which roughly equates to the debt service. That’s 1/10th the amount of that, Plant Vogtle.”
Click here to learn more about Plant Vogtle.
Orfano said the company is mindful of the impact the proposed rates would have on customers.
News4JAX reporter Ashley Harding asked: “Raising rates, some may look at that and say that seems like a band-aid approach. Is there another approach that you could explore in the future?”
“We’ve really done everything we can to absorb the cost of this power purchase agreement,” Orfano said. “Over the last five or six years, we’ve been significantly paying down debt. We put the balance sheet of the electric system in a position to absorb the additional fixed costs that the rating agencies impute into our coverage figures. We come to a point where we can’t do anything more, from a financial modeling standpoint, to address this.”
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According to JEA, this will be the initial discussion with the board, and various rate scenarios proposed may change between now and Jan. 18, when the board plans to call for a rate hearing.
As of now, the rate hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25.
