Part of your electric bill would go up. Part of it would go down.
Ultimately, a proposal JEA will present its board Tuesday would save customers monthly while helping the authority pay down debt and deal with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
That plan is forcing utilities nationwide to shift toward natural gas, nuclear and solar energy generation.
“It’s a comprehensive financial plan,” said Ryan Wannemacher, JEA director of financial planning and analysis.
The utility is required to evaluate its rate structure every five years and adjust the base rate to reflect the true cost of providing electricity.
The latest study showed the base rate, which includes costs other than fuel, should be slightly increased for residential customers and somewhat decreased for most commercial customers.
On the fuel charge side of the bill, all customers would see a reduction.
That would eliminate the annual or semiannual fuel charge rebates JEA has been issuing to customers totaling about $170 million the past four years. Instead, there would be a monthly decrease in the charge.
According to the proposal, the net bill reduction for a residential customer would be 0.2 percent, or about $1 per month.
A large demand commercial customer could see a reduction of 4.9 percent, about $3,500 a month.
Another part of the plan is paying off $190 million of JEA’s bond debt ahead of schedule, which would reduce principal and help the utility refinance remaining debt at a lower interest rate.
Wannemacher said if the plan is implemented, it would reduce JEA’s revenue requirement in the next eight years by more than $100 million and protect customers from a base rate increase for five years.
The proposal also includes an element that would allow JEA, in conjunction with the JAX Chamber’s JAXUSA Partnership economic development division, to negotiate a lower electric rate as an incentive for a commercial customer who is considering setting up an operation in the utility’s Northeast Florida service area.
That could happen only if the prospect is being offered a lower electric rate by another city and the negotiated rate would be “economically positive” to JEA’s existing customers.
The proposal will be presented at noon Tuesday at JEA headquarters, Downtown at 21 W. Church St.
If the plan is approved by the board, there will be a public hearing — and likely a vote — when the board meets Oct. 15.
(904) 356-2466