JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JEA customers are still trying to adjust to a rate increase that took effect Oct. 1, and now News4JAX has learned another one is on the way.
JEA’s Chief Financial Officer Ted Phillips confirmed a rate hike is planned for fiscal year 2027-28, driven in part by the cost of building a new combined cycle power plant — a project priced at roughly $1.5 billion — that will replace a nearly 50-year-old JEA facility.
Phillips said rising fuel costs are also a factor, noting the utility’s fleet drives nearly 11 million miles per year, much of it in diesel trucks.
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“So for us to keep our systems reliable, we are having increased costs and we have to pass those costs back to our customers,” Phillips said.
Rates already up for the second time in 18 months
The Oct. 1 increase — the second in a year and a half — raised electricity rates by more than 6% and water and sewer rates by 8%. For many customers, the back-to-back increases have been a breaking point.
Frustrated JEA customers came to Jacksonville City Hall Thursday night, expressing anger at rising costs and what they described as a lack of flexibility from the publicly owned utility.
Wilshan Tiller, a JEA customer, spoke at the podium and said the utility doubled his deposit despite a 15-year relationship.
“I gotta make this out. So because my lights was getting cut off, they didn’t help me. They didn’t say ‘we’re community serviced.’ They said, ‘Hey, we’re going to double your deposit’ — that I done have service with them for 15 years!” Tiller said.
Rev. Dr. Russell Meyer, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church, put it bluntly: “This is unconscionable. JEA’s money is the public’s money. It’s not their money.”
Council members float $2 million relief plan
City council members Reggie Gaffney and Jimmy Peluso spearheaded Thursday’s meeting in an effort to find ways to help customers at risk of having their electricity or water cut off.
The proposal taking shape: pull $2 million from the city’s operating reserves to assist customers with late utility payments and hire additional staff in the nonprofit sector to handle calls for help.
That need is significant. United Way of Northeast Florida’s 2-1-1 call service received more than 46,000 calls from Duval County residents in a single year — but had only seven staff members to handle them.
“The 5,100 were the people who got support. The number of calls we have gotten from Duval County is over 46,000 each year,” said Coretta Hill, CEO of United Way of Northeast Florida.
What happens next
Council members agreed to refine the proposal at a follow-up meeting. They may wait to bring it before the full council until after the November vote on Amendment 3.
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