More than 18,000 JEA residential customers were determined eligible for assistance because of financial losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson for the city-owned utility said July 2.
Online registration for a $200-per-household financial aid program began at noon July 2 after JEA individually contacted all customers eligible to draw from $2 million appropriated by City Council in June.
As of June 30, JEA determined 18,169 JEA customers were eligible for the aid money meant to help thousands of residential accounts avoid disconnection, according to a document provided by utility officials.
Council legislation approved June 23 authorized 10,000 prepaid debit cards to be made available for the program.
“We will stress the importance of acting now as debit cards will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve(d) basis to those receiving an eligibility notification,” said Gerri Boyce McKenzie, special assistant to JEA CEO Paul McElroy.
When customers receive the card, they will be asked to visit jea.com or call (904) 665-6000 to use it to pay their balance or apply for a payment arrangement or extension.
The card fees will be waived so no additional costs will be incurred by the customer, Boyce McKenzie said.
JEA customers will have 72 hours to make a payment on their accounts after receiving the card, she said.
Households that received payment from the city’s $1,000 individual rent, mortgage and utility relief program are not eligible for the latest $200 aid, according to JEA.
Those who were not contacted by JEA will need to make a payment to avoid service interruptions, the utility said on Twitter July 1.
In total, 22,913 customers have past-due bills or negative prepay utility accounts scheduled for disconnection if bills are unpaid or payment arrangements are not made. Disconnections will resume at 9 a.m. July 7, according to JEA officials.
This includes 720 commercial small businesses; residents at 90 apartment complexes and their landlords; seven consolidated businesses, shopping centers, builders and property management companies; and one government facility.
Interim Chief Customer Officer Bruce Dugan said in a phone interview July 2 that JEA is one of Florida’s last publicly owned utilities to reinstate service disconnects as the state reopens from COVID-19 shutdown.
Lakeland Electric resumed disconnects for nonpayment June 15, and Kissimmee Utility Authority on June 22, according to Boyce McKenzie.
The Orlando Utilities Commission is expected to begin shut-offs July 13 and Gainesville Regional Utilities on July 17.
Council voted 19-0 to move $5 million in federal pandemic aid from the city’s COVID-19 Mortgage, Rent and Utilities Relief Program to help JEA customers.
Ordinance 2020-355-E split the aid — $2 million for the residential need, and $3 million was put into the existing COVID-19 Small Business Relief Grant Program that Dugan said could be used for business and commercial accounts that do not qualify for the residential aid pool.
City officials intend to advertise how to apply for the small business grant program when the $3 million is ready to disburse.
The legislation extended the city’s contract with Fidelity National Information Services Inc. to issue and provide the debit cards, similar to the company’s role in the city’s COVID-19 individual and small business aid programs.
Service disconnects will begin with customers that had past-due accounts before March 16, three days after Mayor Lenny Curry issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency because of the pandemic.