JEA’s board of directors voted Tuesday to hike rates for residential customers by an average of 8.2% for electric service and 6% for water service to help close a $100 million-plus shortfall. This will be the second rate increase for JEA customers in under a year, occurring against the backdrop of rising electric rates across Florida and at a consequential time for Jacksonville’s public utility, which is preparing to build a nearly $1.6 billion natural gas plant.

For the average Jacksonville residential customer, the combined water and electric bill will rise from $231.67 to $239.83, based on figures presented by JEA officials. 

JEA faces a nearly $107 million projected budget shortfall for 2027 across electric and water services, according to utility officials. 

JEA needed higher rates to keep pace with its long-term obligations to buy power from Plant Vogtle, an expensive nuclear power project in Georgia, and rising operating and infrastructure costs, according to JEA spokesperson Karen McAllister.

“Overall operating costs are going up in every aspect of the business,” McAllister said.

JEA has been in the political crosshairs since former City Council President Kevin Carrico attempted to, and later backed down from, appointing his boss at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida to the utility’s board of directors. Facing public scrutiny for that move, Carrico then formed a special investigative committee to scrutinize the workplace culture under JEA CEO Vickie Cavey. 

And last week, Jacksonville’s office of inspector general concluded that JEA “historically failed to effectively manage and collect additional capacity fees” from commercial customers, including Mayo Clinic. Carrico’s committee also questioned JEA officials about that issue, as well as their management of the construction of a new natural gas plant, which has drawn criticism from clean-energy advocates.

“It’s more expensive to do nothing. We have a plant that’s 50 years old,” said JEA board chair MG Orender. “There’s no guarantee how long she’s gonna chug along. And this [rate increase] puts us ahead of the curve so we can provide the best service for our ratepayers,”  he said about powering down one of the Northside Generation station’s generating units and establishing a new $1.6 billion natural gas plant.

JEA customers will see the new costs on their utility bill starting October 1.

The rate increase looks different for each category of utility customer. The overall average rate increase for all customers – including businesses – is 8% for water and sewer services and 6.2% for electric services. Those costs don’t factor in JEA’s connection fees or fluctuations based on fuel market prices, which utility officials sometimes use to offset higher rates when fuel costs are low. 

The public utility provides water and electric service to nearly all of Duval County. 

JEA previously approved increases to the average residential utility bill by 3.7 percent April 2025, and by 5.1 percent in October 2025. In 2025, JEA officials said that despite rate increase, it “expects to continue to offer the lowest overall utility costs among major cities across Florida.” 

According to documents presented during the public hearing, JEA residential customers currently pay more than Gainesville and Orlando for electricity and less than most major Florida cities for water and sewage rates. 

However, utility costs in Florida have soared since 2020 with bills jumping 86% for the average Tampa Electric customer and nearly 50% for the average Duke Energy customer, reporting from advocacy organization Food & Water Watch shows.

“ I urge you to reject the proposed rate increase. At a time when residents are already struggling with rising costs for housing, insurance, groceries, and healthcare, asking customers to pay even more for electricity places an additional burden on households that are already stretched thin,” she said.

Florida’s electric providers cut power to Florida households more than two million times in 2024 because of the inability to pay, according to a first-of-its-kind national report from the U.S. Department of Energy. Only Texas saw higher rates of disconnection. Higher electric bills in Jacksonville may burden residents who already face a quick rise in housing costs. 

During the public hearing, renewables advocate Leah Ferrell of Solar United Neighbors questioned why JEA is funding new fossil fuel powered stations.

 “Why not get serious about solar and expand its portion of our resource mix?” asked Farrell. 

Board members said an  ”exploratory conversation” around solar generation is planned for October. 

“Based on conversations we’ve had, and I think we all agree, that we have a responsibility to at least understand the merits [of solar] and then make what, what we think is the best decision for, for our customers, which are our shareholders,” said board member Arthur Adams. 

Laura Pellicer, a master’s student at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in New York City, is a 2026 summer fellow with The Florida Trib. You can reach Laura at laura.pellicer@floridatrib.org.