by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
To keep customers happy in an era of rising fuel costs, new JEA Chief Executive Officer Jim Dickenson said the utility will depend on innovation and diversity. The formula should be familiar to Dickenson; it’s the same one that took him from entry-level engineer to JEA’s top office.
During a 30 – year career at JEA, Dickenson has done just about everything except sort the mail. He’s designed and built power lines, he’s worked in customer service and human resources, and he’s overseen supply chains and organizational changes. Dickenson counts his familiarity with just about every facet of JEA as one of his main assets as he takes over leadership from outgoing CEO Walt Bussells.
“It’s a definite benefit. A lot of the employees know me personally; they know how we’re going to do business at JEA. It will help ease the transition. When there’s a change in management, employees don’t want to see a lot of changes, particularly when they’ve been successful,” said Dickenson.
Bussells said he had a “deep bench” to choose from at JEA when pondering his replacement. When Bussells began splitting time between JEA and City Hall, he said he kept an eye on Dickenson, then the chief operating officer, to see how he would respond to taking on some of Bussells responsibilities.
“You put some stress on somebody and see how they handle it,” said Bussells. “Seeing how he responded, it just developed through conversations with board members that he’s the guy with the skills and know how that best fits with the times.”
Dickenson has had plenty of time to learn his way around JEA. Bussells noted that his replacement, “has been here longer than me, but he’s younger than I am.” When Dickenson arrived at JEA in 1973, oil sold for about $3 a barrel. Today the price hovers around $40.
Dickenson knows he has a tough act to follow in Bussells, who saw rates drop and customer satisfaction rise. Pressured by rising fuel prices, the rates will rise for the first time in 13 years. To keep customers happy, Dickenson said JEA will continue to innovate, expanding its services and searching for sustainable fuel sources to keep future rates stable.
“Our strategy in the past has been to use diverse sources: natural gas, oil, diesel, and when prices rise in one area we can shift to other sources,” said Dickenson. “Now what you’re seeing is everything’s going up. We have hope that it moderates some, but we don’t think it goes back to some of the (lower) prices we’ve seen in the past.” “We’re aggressively pursuing renewable energy like our solar panels. Although it’s extremely expensive now, we want to increase our familiarity with the technology. We want to get into the renewable market before we’re forced to.”