JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 JEA is set to consider a rate hike on customers starting in October, as city leaders attempt to get to the bottom of the utility\u2019s failure to collect additional capacity fees.<\/p>\n
City Council\u2019s JEA Liaison and Chair of the JEA Special Investigatory Committee, Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large), said he hopes that rate hike could be offset if JEA resolves a multi-decade failure to charge large commercial customers additional capacity fees.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Some members of city council have estimated the uncollected fees could total as much as $100 million.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause right now regular customers like you and I are paying for the lack of those fees being collected,\u201d said Salem.<\/p>\n JEA Board Chair Joe DiSalvo downplayed the impact capacity fee collection issues have on rates.<\/p>\n Instead, he attributed potential rate hikes are being driven by lower than expected revenues and ongoing capital projects.<\/p>\n \u201cA past capacity fee is completely different. It\u2019s more on the commercial side, not the residential,\u201d said DiSalvo. \u201dThe numbers they\u2019re hearing, and again you\u2019ll hear this at the workshop on the 14th of April, are being vastly exaggerated, and I\u2019ll just leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n But DiSalvo wasn\u2019t able to say how many businesses JEA has failed to charge.<\/p>\n Action News Jax told you earlier this month<\/a> about a memo drafted by JEA\u2019s former General Counsel, Regina Ross, which concluded JEA legally had to collect uncharged additional capacity fees from Mayo Clinic, which she estimated owned $18.9 million alone.<\/p>\n The JEA Special Investigatory Committee is asking JEA to waive attorney-client privilege to allow Ross to participate in the investigation and help council auditors calculate the scope of the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need Regina Ross to help us,\u201d said Salem.<\/p>\n But DiSalvo said any decision to waive attorney-client privilege will not be made hastily, and it will be discussed at length in an upcoming meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a serious consideration. What type of precedence are you setting?\u201d said DiSalvo. \u201dWe\u2019re not going to take that lightly at all. I can tell you that right now.\u201d <\/p>\n Both the consideration of waiving attorney-client privilege and a deep dive into the capacity fee issue will be discussed at a board workshop scheduled for April 14th.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n