| Type | Public benefit corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Public Utility |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Jacksonville, Florida, USA |
| Key people | James A. Dickenson, CEO & Managing Director Paul McElroy, CFO James M. Chansler, COO [1] |
| Products | Electric utility, Drinking water, Sewage treatment, Chilled water |
| Revenue | $1.6 billion (2008) |
| Employees | 1,900 approximate (2009) |
| Website | www.jea.com |
JEA (formerly Jacksonville Electric Authority), located in Jacksonville, Florida, is the eighth largest community-owned electric utility company in the United States and largest in Florida. As of 2009, JEA serves more than 417,000 electric customers, 305,000 water customers and 230,000 sewer customers. Besides Jacksonville (Duval County), JEA also has customers in Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
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The City of Jacksonville established an electric system in 1895. The electric system grew with the city, but remained a department of city government until an independent authority was created by the consolidation of city and county governments in 1967. During the 1970s, JEA's electric rates were among the highest in the nation. There were reports of customers with electric bills higher than their mortgage payments.
Royce Lyles became JEA Managing Director on September 1, 1979 and the utility began diversifying its fuel mix. Rates began to drop, eventually becoming the lowest in the state and near the bottom in the Southeast. JEA became an admired and respected organization. Walt Bussells was appointed Managing Director on September 8, 1995, following Royce Lyles' retirement.
Jacksonville's water and sewer systems had been operated by the city since 1880. On June 1, 1997, the City of Jacksonville, Department of Public Utilities, water and sewer operations merged into JEA. Since the Jacksonville Electric Authority was also operating other utilities, they requested a name change to the initials, JEA; the City Council approved it on September 23, 1998, effectively making JEA an orphan acronym. Walt Bussells embraced new technology and in 2002, JEA introducted online bill payment and implemented network meter reading. In 2003, the utility also began providing Chilled water for air conditioning in downtown buildings. The first two customers were the downtown library and the John Milton Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse. Purchasing chilled water eliminates the need for chillers and cooling towers at each property, reducing capital outlays and eliminating ongoing maintenance costs. The space saved can also become rentable, increasing revenue.[2]
Jim Dickenson replaced Walt Bussells when Bussells retired in 2004.
Since 2004, JEA has assessed fuel rate increases three times. In 2007, JEA had the second-lowest electric rates in Florida before they announced a four-year base rate increase package that will bring the average bill from $112 to more than $140 in 2010.[3] Most utilities had been forced to raise their rates due to increased fuel costs, but approved rate increases were designed to reduce the utility's debt, currently at $6.0 billion compared to assets of $7.5 billion. Compared to other similar sized municipal utilities, JEA has 60% more debt per customer, which can lower the utility's bond rating and make it more expensive and difficult to borrow money. [4]