Who Loves JEA?

[BridgeTroll]

OMG... I suddenly see the light!  How could I have been so thoroughly duped?

JEA is a nest of thieves... stealing (sometimes openly) from the public for the benefit of a few shadowy capitalists intent on sucking the poor dry.  But wait theres more!  JEA is secretly poisoning the water causing us to pay our grossly unfair bills without question.  Those greedy bastards are actually charging late fees on payments received a mere 20 days late!  To make matters worse these greedy bloodsuckers have the balls to charge a completely unreasonable deposit to those who through no fault of their own are chronically late paying their grossly unfair bills.  Need more?  The list grievances is too long to express adequately...

Again... Thank you Stephen and Chris... I appreciate your patience.

[BridgeTroll]

Just comin around to your point of view.  You are very convincing BTW.

[BridgeTroll]

Based on the convincing case Chris and yourself have made... I have no choice but to conclude that...

JEA is corrupt... possibly beyond salvage
JEA billing practices are clearly criminal
JEA is a prime example of capitalists stealing from the poor
JEA lies and cheats
JEA executives are criminally overpaid

[ChriswUfGator]

Based on the convincing case Chris and yourself have made... I have no choice but to conclude that...

JEA is corrupt... possibly beyond salvage
JEA billing practices are clearly criminal
JEA is a prime example of capitalists stealing from the poor
JEA lies and cheats
JEA executives are criminally overpaid

So when you couldn't demand proof from everyone that the sky is blue anymore, now you resort to this new tactic?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

Reductio ad absurdum (Latin: "reduction to the absurd") is a form of argument in which a proposition is disproven by following its implications logically to an absurd consequence.

this form of proof is a logical fallacy.

[BridgeTroll]

   I am certainly surprised both of you find my conversion to your point of veiw regarding JEA absurd...  These are after all the very points you make.  I am simply caving in to your logic.  It is positively... irrefutable.

[BridgeTroll]

Awesome!  Agreement is so much better... dont ya think?

Based on the convincing case Chris and yourself have made... I have no choice but to conclude that...

JEA is corrupt... possibly beyond salvage
JEA billing practices are clearly criminal
JEA is a prime example of capitalists stealing from the poor
JEA lies and cheats
JEA executives are criminally overpaid

[uptowngirl]

I spoke to some small business owners here in my neighborhood, they are flabbergasted by the bills they have been receiving, they also state the flucuation from month to month makes no sense. The impact of these charges to SB can be castrophic.

whether you love JEA (BT and RK) or you hate them, shouldn't a basic component of their existence be the ability for the average user to understand what they are being charged for? should the average user have to guess why their bills goes from $200 to $1,000 to $600 to $200 every month when they are not making any changes to their actual usage? Shouldn't the average user be able to look at the meter and see the same damn reading on it that the JEA customer service rep is reading from their screen?

The root of the issue is JEA making up usage and peak vs. non-peak charges and their wild readings that do not match the meter attached to the property.

[tufsu1]

FYI...I got my bill today....it is $106 for electric ($172 for everything...yes the sewer/water prices are high)....subtracting the taxes (about $12) and fuel cost (about $35), my electric "base" charge is $59...and I used 774 kwh, which makes the rate $0.0762 per kwh.  

btw...it is necessary for the fuel costs to be separate...as we all know, fuel prices can be very volatile...so if they were combined with the base rate, the rate would change quite regularly...which, for most utilities, would require constant PSC/PUC approval.

[Timkin]

JEA is outrageous on their billing.   I wont elaborate because I do not feel like being put under a microscope for my position.

I think some of their business practices leave A GREAT DEAL to be desired.  As someone else pointed out,,,since it is that we have no alternative option for which to get utilities from , we are pretty much stuck with JEA. 

For my part... I thank GOD that I am on a well of my own and NOT City Water/Sewer because my already outrageous bill would be approaching a point that I could not afford.

I think some really ridiculous salaries need to be done away with at JEA.   If this is a public-owned entity , perhaps it is time for a major change.   But the policies they set forth for deposits, tacking on additional deposits if someone is late once or twice is A B S U R D ! 

Seems to me, the middle class American is being stripped away... we will eventually end up with either filthy rich , or dirt poor, with no in-between.

[ronchamblin]

 
So sorry guys.  Careless of me to omit an address for verification.  Here is the address showing the 2009 JEA deposit fund.  The deposit totals are shown each year in the section titled “Notes to Financial Statements”

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/fc2aa9f8#/fc2aa9f8/56

In the future I will be sure and offer the address of the source of any items for which anyone might want to verify.  See what you think.  Again, I'm pretty sure I'm interpreting the table correctly.  The JEA customer deposits on hand for 2009 show as being $281,189,000. 



Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day.  Give him a religion, and he will starve to death while praying for a fish.

[ChriswUfGator]

FYI...I got my bill today....it is $106 for electric ($172 for everything...yes the sewer/water prices are high)....subtracting the taxes (about $12) and fuel cost (about $35), my electric "base" charge is $59...and I used 774 kwh, which makes the rate $0.0762 per kwh. 

btw...it is necessary for the fuel costs to be separate...as we all know, fuel prices can be very volatile...so if they were combined with the base rate, the rate would change quite regularly...which, for most utilities, would require constant PSC/PUC approval.

So, by your logic, then you wouldn't have a problem if you went to a restaurant to get a $7 burger and fries, and when you got your bill you find you were charged $20 extra for the bun, $10 extra for the lettuce, and a $15 fee for the use of the plate, despite the restaurant advertising a $7 burger? Awesome man!

Food prices are volatile too, amd it costs money to reprint ads, so maybe restaurants should start billing like JEA?

[uptowngirl]

Interestingly enough, it seems certain states are charging around the same rate as JEA, but that is with tacking on some additional "green costs" for renewability (non coal energy) and recovering costs for the investment of the same.  If you look at slide six in the link, you can see the break down of costs to produce each type of fuel, with coal being one of the lowest. I find it interesting that some feel JEA is charging reasonable rates based on what other utilities are charging, but are only looking at the actual rates being charged. So while during peak season LA utility is charging a slightly higher rate, and off peak about the same rate, they also are held responsible to a certain percentage to go towards renewable energy efforts and are actually investing in renewable energy options- while JEA is just adding to city coffers, or building new coal plants...

I am going to continue to dig through the multitude of data out there, but upon initial investigation comparing rates of one utility to another does not seem to be a very fair comparison. Especially when you add in the cost of living adjustment for some of the areas we are comparing rates too. CA is obviously a much higher cost area, people are paid more to compensate for that, for instance gasoline may be $4.50 a gallon in CA and $2.98 in GA.

While desperately poor may not care what that extra money is being used for when their lights are turned off, most of us would agree paying more in for renewable energy efficiencies is not a bad trade off.

http://www.lewis.ucla.edu/climate/files/TheCostsofRPSTargetsLADWPOKeefeBedrossian_f09.pdf

[ChriswUfGator]

Interestingly enough, it seems certain states are charging around the same rate as JEA, but that is with tacking on some additional "green costs" for renewability (non coal energy) and recovering costs for the investment of the same.  If you look at slide six in the link, you can see the break down of costs to produce each type of fuel, with coal being one of the lowest. I find it interesting that some feel JEA is charging reasonable rates based on what other utilities are charging, but are only looking at the actual rates being charged. So while during peak season LA utility is charging a slightly higher rate, and off peak about the same rate, they also are held responsible to a certain percentage to go towards renewable energy efforts and are actually investing in renewable energy options- while JEA is just adding to city coffers, or building new coal plants...

I am going to continue to dig through the multitude of data out there, but upon initial investigation comparing rates of one utility to another does not seem to be a very fair comparison. Especially when you add in the cost of living adjustment for some of the areas we are comparing rates too. CA is obviously a much higher cost area, people are paid more to compensate for that, for instance gasoline may be $4.50 a gallon in CA and $2.98 in GA.

While desperately poor may not care what that extra money is being used for when their lights are turned off, most of us would agree paying more in for renewable energy efficiencies is not a bad trade off.

http://www.lewis.ucla.edu/climate/files/TheCostsofRPSTargetsLADWPOKeefeBedrossian_f09.pdf

Hey at least JEA is doing something with their pollution...putting it in our water!   A new form of recycling?

[Timkin]

FYI...I got my bill today....it is $106 for electric ($172 for everything...yes the sewer/water prices are high)....subtracting the taxes (about $12) and fuel cost (about $35), my electric "base" charge is $59...and I used 774 kwh, which makes the rate $0.0762 per kwh. 

btw...it is necessary for the fuel costs to be separate...as we all know, fuel prices can be very volatile...so if they were combined with the base rate, the rate would change quite regularly...which, for most utilities, would require constant PSC/PUC approval.

So, by your logic, then you wouldn't have a problem if you went to a restaurant to get a $7 burger and fries, and when you got your bill you find you were charged $20 extra for the bun, $10 extra for the lettuce, and a $15 fee for the use of the plate, despite the restaurant advertising a $7 burger? Awesome man!

Food prices are volatile too, amd it costs money to reprint ads, so maybe restaurants should start billing like JEA?

Jesus, Man!!!  Don't give restaurants any ideas !!

[RiversideLoki]

Why not? It was working for that pizza place at the landing for a while?

*ducks*