If customers of Jackson Energy Authority are behind in their utility bills, they might want to respond to a letter they were mailed May 1, or a telephone call some have received concerning their past due account.

JEA did not disconnect services during a 2.5 month period which began March 13 due to the pandemic.

“Our customer service reps and credit department are making outbound calls to these customers that we have not heard from, yet,” said Nancy Nanney, JEA’s chief financial officer, “They have gotten their letter, and it’s been a couple of weeks, and we have not heard from them.”

Nanney, who made her comments during JEA’s monthly board meeting, said 20 percent of JEA’s total customers have past due accounts.

“We are reaching out to them and contacting them, and if we still can’t reach them – and we are having a lot of success reaching them – but if we can’t – before we go and disconnect them, we are going to go and put a door hanger on their door and give them 48 hours.

“We are doing the most we can do to try to reach these customers and make arrangements.

“Of course, the goal is to keep them from getting in arrears.”

Here’s the breakdown of accounts past due –

Residential

9,504 accounts are currently past due. This is down from a high of 9,868 last week.
The total past due for all residential accounts is $2,054,200.51.
The average balance of these past due accounts is $216.14

Commercial

538 accounts are currently past due. This is down from a high of 831 in mid-April.
The total past due for all commercial accounts is $371,805.05.
The average balance of these past due accounts is $691.09.

No industrial accounts are past due.

(Screenshot of JEA Board meeting, Thursday)

David Thomas, Twitter – @DavidThomasWNWS
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