Downtown Retail Incentives

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I called JEA yesterday about setting up a new account and the deposit amounts I was quoted were: $0 good credit (which is what I paid), $300 poor credit, $500 or 2 months avergae whichever is greater for customers with no credit.

OH.... MUH ....GAWD

I'm willing to bet that if you keep your account in good standing, you'll never see the dreaded 'We Take What We Want' notice in your mail either.

[ronchamblin]

      I think we are having difficulty with the JEA deposit issue because it is impossible for the two most desirable conditions to exist simultaneously; the first desirable being the condition wherein we do not want any JEA customer to exit the system while owing hundreds or thousands of dollars, and the second being our wish to have JEA hold only about $20,000,000 or so of our deposit funds.  If every customer pays 200% their average monthly bill, then the deposit fund is forced upward to obscene levels, but at least this will not allow anyone to skip out while owing money.
     If we desire to limit the JEA deposit fund by allowing for most customers to have very low deposits, then we will be approving of occasional non-payments by exiting customers.  This latter condition may be okay in some respects, as it will be giving those in financial stress a break.
     And if JEA is operating with a large cash cushion, as some have suggested, then it really does not matter how much they hold in deposits.  So perhaps it is okay to suggest the low end for the deposit fund, say $15,000,000, instead of the $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 level of recent years.
     I personally believe that “all” JEA customers should be forced to pay for all of the electricity they consume, and the “only” way to do this is to have a policy of making customers have on deposit 200% of their average monthly bill.  The problem is that we have this huge deposit fund, which seems obscene.  What to do with it?  Perhaps JEA could have the deposit fund draw interest, and use the interest to improve the balance sheet so that customers would pay less for electric use.  In my view, as long as JEA is efficient, is empty of corruption, and is run like a businesses, and attempts to keep the rates as low as possible, then what more could we ask of the operation?         

[ronchamblin]

     I agree that the JEA scenario is too complex for the time and ability available to me.  And so, my attempt to simplify by stating that my main concern was to insure that every customer, in the end, pays for all electrical power he or she or they have consumed, has not faired well.  Too bad the seemingly obscene huge deposit fund cannot be targeted via some kind of investments to ulitimately benefit all the customers by lowering electrical rates.

     My earlier hopes that our casual posting might approach a solution on this particular problem was apparently too ambitious, but I thoroughly enjoy the exercise in thinking and discussion on this productive MJ forum, which, by virtue of our efforts has remained civil and on the subject.  Thank you.