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JEA to temporarily stop disconnecting service as bills increase with fuel costs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many JEA customers opened their electric bill and were shocked as fuel costs and hot temperatures drove up prices.

According to JEA, some bills were up by as much as 25% compared to the average bill customers received earlier in the year. There are about 6,300 customers late paying their bill, and several hundred at risk of being disconnected.

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“It’s gone up astronomically,” customer Taylor Spaulding said.

“It majorly impacts everything. It’s really hard to make ends meet right now. Just leaning on the Lord’s help,” Latoya Collier added.

The number of customers having trouble paying bills is one reason that JEA announced it will temporarily suspend disconnecting service from Aug. 1 to Sept. 18. After that, the utility will permanently stop collecting fees associated with credit card payments.

It comes as fuel costs reached their highest since the start of the year, according to JEA CEO Jay Stowe. Action News Jax reported last month when customers started noticing the fuel price impacts.

Related: Fuel costs, hot weather drive up JEA electric bills

In December 2021, JEA started charging monthly instead of annually to reflect real-time costs.

At that time, JEA data shows the average bill included a fuel cost of about $36. It has since spiked to nearly $58, which represents a nearly 60% increase.

“It’s a volatile market that changes every single day. A couple months ago it was downward. The last month has increased,” Stowe said. “We are continuing to manage that the best way we can to try and keep that cost as low as we can because we know it impacts our customers.”

He expects that fuel costs could surpass energy costs by October but will go back down at the start of next year.

JEA said nonprofits are also on standby and prepared to step in to help struggling customers. More options are available by visiting the JEA website.

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