JEA will resume an employee incentive program focused on safety and operations that was on hiatus for five years.
The JEA board of directors met for its regular monthly meeting Tuesday and approved an employee pay-for-performance plan for the remainder of the 2012 fiscal year through September.
The plan would provide a one-time payout of $250 to $750 per employee if certain goals are met for both safety and the operations and maintenance budget.
“It was our systematic approach to aligning our corporate measures and objectives with employee compensation. We suspended the program in 2007 in light of the economic downturn,” said Ashton Hudson, chair of the JEA board of directors.
“In light of the current financial health of the utility, and the fact that our employees have not had pay raises for some time now, it is time to put back in place a program that will align our corporate measures and objectives with employee compensation,” he said.
The pay-for-performance plan has two categories.
The safety category goal is to reduce Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable incident rates.
A safe workplace translates into less money spent on health insurance costs and JEA has received an average rebate of $2 million annually on its workers’ compensation insurance because of its low incident rates, said Jim Dickenson, JEA managing director and CEO.
JEA’s year-to-date recordable incident rate is 1.17 per 100 employees and its goal is 1.2. The utility forecasts a savings of $3.5 million if the goal is met. Employees can earn from $250-$750 depending on rate.
The current industry average for public-sector utilities is 6.2 injuries per 100 employees, according to JEA.
The operation and maintenance budget for fiscal year 2012 is $363.3 million. Its savings goal is 5 percent of that budget, which translates to $18.4 million. Employees can earn $250-$750 depending on how much savings they generate.
“This is not extra money. Employees will benefit from the savings they produce,” said Dickenson.
The plan provides a one-time payment to employees after a year-end audit. The benefit will be paid out of the fiscal year 2013 budget.
Dickenson also was charged with developing a more detailed plan for fiscal year 2013.
The board also voted to hold a public hearing at the June 18 meeting about the previously approved reduction of water and sewer rates scheduled to take effect Oct. 1.
JEA staff has recommended the board forgo the increase in service availability and environmental rates while maintaining volumetric, or water usage, rates.
Factors include reducing its five-year capital costs by 30 percent, adhering to a “pay-go” plan where no new borrowed money will be used for projects over the next five years, taking advantage of lower interest rates and creating savings from refunding of several bonds.
If staff recommendations are approved by the board, there will be no rate increase for more than 67 percent of JEA customers. Volumetric rate increases will apply to 33 percent of residential customers and all commercial customers. That percentage normally represents customers who use more than 6,000 gallons per month, said Dickenson.
“Maintaining the volumetric rates is a conservation issue. It will only affect those who use more than 6,000 gallons per month, so it gives customers an incentive to conserve water,” said Dickenson.
The board previously approved travel for Dickenson to Washington, D.C., where he will testify Thursday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on the Clean Energy Standard Act.
One section of the bill that Dickenson saw troubling for JEA concerned the deadlines for the amount of electricity produced from clean energy.
The minimum percentage by 2015 is 24 percent, rising to 84 percent by 2035.
“It’s going to be costly for us to meet that,” said Dickenson, who is scheduled to retire in February 2013.
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