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- 2021.02.17 JEA Announces New Leadership Team
- 2021.03.11 JEA Receives First Place Safety Award from Florida Municipal Electric Association
- 2021.06.15 JEA Names Theodore B. Phillips Chief Financial Officer
- 2021.07.13 JEA Announces New COO and VP of Financial Services
- 2021.08.17 JEA Builds Out Leadership Team with Hiring of Chief External Affairs Officer
- 2021.09.15 JEA Names New Chief Information Officer, VP of Technical Services
- 2021.09.30 Ricky Erixton, JEA Vice President of Electric Systems, Named to SERC Reliability Board of Directors
- 2021.09.30 Ricardo “Rick” Morales III Appointed to JEA Board of Directors
- 2021.11.03 JEA Receives Statewide Recognition for Programs that Build Community
- 2022.01.06 JEA Names its First Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- 2022.01.07 JEA Reducing Carbon Emissions with Closure of Plant Scherer Coal-fired Unit
- 2022.01.17 Statement on Holiday Road Sewer Overflow
- 2022.01.27 JEA Names Mark Stultz Vice President, Communications
- 2022.02.11 JEA Honored as Outstanding Utility by Florida Urban Forestry Council
- 2022.04.08 Steven Selders Promoted to JEA Vice President, Application Delivery and Enterprise Architecture
- 2022.04.26 JEA Managing Director & CEO Jay Stowe, Appointed to Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council
- 2022.06.01 JEA Partnering with Customers to be Ready for 2022 Hurricane Season
- 2022.06.08 JEA Announces Next Generation of Customer Experience Delivery
- 2022.06.13 JEA Presents Environmental Stewardship Award to Evoqua Water Technologies
- 2022.07.26 JEA to Suspend Electric, Water Disconnections During Peak of Summer Heat
- 2022.08.27 Precautionary Boil Water Advisory Remains in Effect for Sandalwood Area as JEA Continues Testing
- 2022.08.28 JEA Lifts Boil Water Advisory for Sandalwood Area
- 2022.09.26 JEA Prepares for Hurricane Ian, Response Procedures in Place
- 2022.09.27 JEA Prepared to Respond to Hurricane Ian Impacts
- 2022.09.28 JEA Welcomes Mutual Aid Response to Hurricane Ian
- 2022.09.29 JEA Crews Restoring Power Throughout Jacksonville
- 2022.10.03 JEA Names Pedro Melendez Vice President, Planning, Engineering & Construction
- 2022.10.20 JEA Honors Local Agency Partners for Their Work in the Community
- 2022.11.04 JEA Receives Statewide Recognition for Community Work in Northeast Florida
- 2022.11.08 JEA Prepares for Subtropical Storm Nicole
- 2022.11.11 All Storm Restorations Continue Today; JEA to Lift Limited Emergency Operations
- 2022.12.12 JEA Women's, Men's Teams Win Top Honors at Statewide Water Competition
- 2022.12.20 JEA Offers Tips in Advance of Severe Cold Weather
- 2022.12.24 JEA Offers Tips During Severe Cold Weather
- 2023.01.10 JEA Receives Statewide Recognition for Mutual Aid Work
- 2023.03.06 JEA Receives Statewide Recognition for Safety
- 2023.03.07 New JEA HQ Customer Center to Open April 10
- 2023.04.06 JEA Lineworkers Earn Top Honors at International Lineman’s Rodeo
- 2023.04.25 Community Invited to May 25 Public Forum on Northeast Florida’s Energy Future
- 2023.05.01 JEA Receives Recognition for Commitment to Urban Tree Management
- 2023.05.18 JEA's Long-Range Clean Energy Plan Available to Public
- 2023.05.26 JEA Ready for 2023 Hurricane Season, Offers Tips to Help Customers Prepare
- 2023.06.05 Helen Materazzi Named JEA Vice President, Organizational Effectiveness
- 2023.06.14 JEA Upgrading Water Meters for All Customers
- 2023.06.15 JEA Crews Heading to Tallahassee to Assist with Storm Restoration
- 2023.06.26 JEA Presents Environmental Stewardship Award to 29 Local Companies
- 2023.07.14 JEA Launches Fleet Vehicle Electrification Program
- 2023.08.22 JEA Issues Precautionary Boil Water Advisory for South Philips Highway and Nocatee Area, Encourages All Customers to Conserve
- 2023.08.22 Chief Human Resources Officer, VyStar Credit Union
- 2023.08.23 Precautionary Boil Water Advisory Remains in Effect for South Philips Highway, Nocatee Area, JEA Continues to Encourage All Customers to Conserve
- 2023.08.24 JEA Lifts Precautionary Boil Water Advisory for South Philips Highway, Nocatee Area
- 2023.08.28 JEA Prepares for Tropical Storm Idalia Encourages Customers to Be Ready
- 2023.08.30 JEA Responding to Customers Due to Hurricane Idalia
- 2023.11.15 JEA Receives Top Ranking in 2023 Business Satisfaction Survey by J.D. Power
- 2023.11.07 JEA Receives Statewide Recognition for Programs That Enhance the Community
- 2023.11.20 Juli Crawford Promoted to JEA Vice President, Enterprise Strategy & Planning
- 2023.11.28 JEA and UNF Advance Sustainable Solutions at Lab Opening
- 2024.01.09 Bond Rating Agencies Affirm Strong Financial Status for JEA Water Services
- 2024.01.30 JEA Hosts FMEA Lineman Competition
- 2024.01.31 JEA Honored with Statewide Award for Mutual Aid Assistance
- 2024.02.26 JEA Lineworkers Earn Top Prizes at Florida Lineman Competition
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- 2010.06.15 Open Letter to All JEA Customers
Open Letter to All JEA Customers
2010-06-15
Jacksonville, FL - At the JEA Board meeting this week, the Board approved an increase to JEA’s Adjustable Fuel Rate effective October 1. So far in this fiscal year, because of fuel price volatility, JEA’s actual fuel expense will exceed actual fuel revenue by $71 million or 13%. We must make an adjustment to the fuel rate in order to cover this shortfall. This will be in addition to the electric base rate increase, and water/sewer base rate and excess consumption increase approved by the Board in the last few years.
Deciding to raise rates is never an easy decision for the Board; however, it is necessary to guarantee the financial stability of JEA. In the ‘90s and early ‘00s, JEA was able to go for a very long time—14 years in fact—without raising rates. Today, I often hear from our customers and they want to know why we keep raising rates. You ask me, “What has changed?” The reality is, almost every aspect of our business has changed.
During the long period when we had no rate increases, fuel costs were nearly flat. The fuel cost chart shows almost a flat line from 1989 to 2003. Then in 2003/2004, fuel prices started being extremely volatile. In November 2004, JEA established an Adjustable Fuel Rate to help manage this volatility. The two things that drive the fuel expense are the cost of fuel used and how much electricity our customers consume. If either increases beyond our budgeted projection, then we need additional revenue to cover the difference. The Adjustable Fuel Rate allows us to better manage our fuel cost which also affects your overall costs.
To further put this fuel rate increase into perspective, JEA actually lowered its fuel rate by $10.98 for the fiscal year we are currently in (starting October 1, 2009). When the fuel rate goes up $6.48 in October 1, 2010, it will actually still be lower than it was in our fiscal year that started October 1, 2008.
Another major influence on JEA’s rates is environmental regulations. Today, we know more about the effects of industry on the environment; therefore, state and federal agencies have implemented more and more regulations to assure the minimum impact to the environment with an emphasis on sustainability for the future. JEA is required to do more and more to meet these regulations which have added tremendous cost to our business. For instance, through 2010 JEA has spent $116 million to meet state requirements for nitrogen reduction to the St. Johns River, and is projected to spend another $34 million by 2013. Another example is the federal requirement to put additional environmental equipment at the St. Johns River Power Park so far costing $141 million. What we see ahead in terms of cost for new regulations is far greater than anything we have experienced as a utility or a community in the past. And, it appears that fuel volatility and environmental regulations are going to continue to drive utility costs up far into the future.
The other rate increases for electric and water/sewer services, that I mentioned earlier, were put in place to help reduce debt, pay for system improvements and to pay for steadily increasing environmental regulations.
Beginning in October 2007, JEA implemented a four year base rate increase for the electric system that will increase that portion of customer bills approximately 3% effective October 1, 2010. This four-year annual electric base rate increase has helped us meet our objective to fund a larger portion of JEA’s electric system renewal and replacement expenses directly from revenue instead of by adding new debt, and has helped to reduce our current debt load.
A rate structure change and a four year adjustment to water and sewer rates first went into effect October, 2009. A residential customer utilizing 6000 gallons per month will see a $5.67 increase in their monthly bill effective October 1, 2010. Since JEA was given responsibility for the City’s water and sewer department in 1997, JEA has invested $3 billion (now mostly debt) in the City’s water and sewer infrastructure. Many other cities around the country have not made these types of investments and suffer today from service interruptions and higher costs to repair. The rates adjustments were structured to move towards a more balanced recovery of this fixed expense through higher fixed monthly charges, while limiting adjustments to residential volume charges to consumption greater than 6000 gallons per month—generally considered essential use—and to fund specific environmental programs. To give you a frame of reference on water costs, a 16 oz. bottle of water you might purchase at a store typically costs around $1.50. One thousand (1,000) gallons of water from JEA costs $0.93—for the whole 1,000 gallons.
The members of the JEA Board and staff understand that you are frustrated and upset by having to pay more for your utility services. We are paying those same bills. We understand that this economic downturn makes it even more difficult. However, we have a charge to provide electric, water and sewer services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year—no exceptions—and the Board must assure that JEA has the resources to meet that commitment. Our commitment to you is that we are doing everything possible to manage our costs and keep rates low.
Ron Townsend
Chair
JEA Board
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