Jacksonville, Florida — In order to keep up with the maintenance of JEA’s energy-generating infrastructure, board members are announcing a new increase in utility bills for customers.
JEA board members say their projections for the next 10 years will include a base rate increase of up to 45 percent by the year 2032.
That is about a 40-dollar increase to your utility bill over the next decade, but the new increase will only cost you a few dollars per month as it compounds each year.
JEA has already increased its base rate by three percent last year, and board members say it could happen again in the coming years.
In an effort to be transparent, the CEO of JEA, Jay Stowe says the new rate increase to utility bills will remain below inflation.
“We try to keep our rates as affordable as possible, but we also have to be sure that we keep things reliable and resilient,” Stowe says. “SO there’ll be some future base rate increases on our electric system, but overall they should be, ugh, in the next ten years. We believe those will be less than inflation and we’re gonna try to manage our costs as best we can.”
Stowe says, “the biggest driver of our longer-term need for rate increases is driven by the combination of capital projects, Plant Vogtle, primarily, and the work that we need to do to be sure that we have the right generation of mix on the electric side.
JEA board members also discussed how the rise of electric cars may change their projects for the next decade, as more people buy newer cars that need to be charged at home, changing the way older homes may use electricity and increasing the demand for reliable electric systems.