JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The JEA Board of Directors will consider raising electric, water, and sewer rates on Tuesday.
Price increases on just about everything are already hitting the wallets of Jacksonville residents like Jeanette Williams hard these days.
“You can’t even buy two pounds of ground beef for under $20, and that’s sad,” said Williams.
So, when we told Williams JEA would be considering raising rates under a plan that could increase her monthly bill by about 3.5 percent, she wasn’t thrilled.
“I don’t think they need to approve it because it’s already high. I mean, how high can you go?” said Williams.
Under the proposed rate hike, the utility would generate $106.8 million in additional annual revenues.
According to the utility, residential customers would see their water, sewer and electric bills rise by a total of $8.61 a month on average.
The average JEA residential bill would still be lower than those in other major cities like Tampa, Pensacola and Tallahassee.
But the new rate would now result in JEA’s residential customers paying more than Miami residents.
“I mean, more than Miami, that’s an outrage,” said Councilmember Rory Diamond )R-District 13).
Councilmember Diamond argued the rate hike is unacceptable given the other financial strains residents are facing.
“If your competitors are doing it for less than you need to reform. You need to get better, not just come back again to the ratepayers and ask for more money,” said Diamond.
JEA told Action News Jax the rate hike is intended to help pay for critical infrastructure improvements to ensure the utility can keep up with the growing demands on its systems.
“These investments help ensure reliable service, improve resilience, support sustainability goals, and prepare our community for future growth,” a JEA spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
But Diamond argued if JEA were to reduce its annual city contribution, which exceeds $100 million each year, the rate hike could be avoided.
“There’s already a backdoor tax that JEA pays the City of Jacksonville every year that they don’t have to do, which just makes no sense at all,” said Diamond.
If approved during Tuesday’s hearing, the new rates would kick in on October 1st.
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