JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — JEA paid about $72,000 to throw a holiday season party for its employees at "A Night of Magic" celebration that featured magicians, tables of food platters and an open bar that served beer, wine and some cocktail selections at no cost to attendees.
The party in December at the Florida Theatre was a way to thank employees for work they'd done to manage the cost of providing electricity to customers in the face of volatile fuel prices and other expenses that factor into electric bills, according to the utility.
City Council member Michael Boylan called it a concerning expenditure by the city-owned utility.
"In the scheme of things, it's not that big a number, but the optics of it is critical," Boylan said.
Electric bills spiked to record-high levels in 2022 and have fallen over the past year, though JEA says base rate increases will be needed in future years. Boylan, who is the council's liaison to JEA, said it's "common sense" that JEA customers won't like to see money they paid for utility service get used for a party.
"It's a question of judgment and you have to be concerned about it," Boylan said. "You would think that someone who comes out of a municipal utility would understand that's something that should be challenged."
JEA Vice President of Communications Mark Stultz said the expenditure for the holiday gathering was not an amount that affected the increases in base rates for electricity. He said JEA invited all of its roughly 2,200 employees to the party and considering the size of the utility's workforce, the cost for the party was reasonable.
"We knew our workforce had been through three pretty strenuous years," Stultz said. "We had the COVID situation, we had the attempted sale (of JEA), and all during that time, our workforce responded and provided dedicated 24-7 service to the community."
He said he recognizes some customers object to the utility paying for an employee gathering when customers have paid more for electricity.
"We do understand that the sentiment is out there," he said. "We also know there would likely never be a time when the stars would align in a way that people would say it's okay for JEA to have a party for its employees. You're always going to have people who say, 'I'm paying more. This is not an expense I want to be associated with.' But we examined it holistically in terms of it being good for morale, good for motivation, good for our employees feeling good about what they do and serving our customers even better."
JEA used the Florida Theatre in downtown Jacksonville for the party. JEA was a contributing sponsor to the recently completed renovation of the historic theater so the venue did not charge JEA for the space. The Florida Theatre charged JEA a tab of $6,251 for drinks served from an open bar that operated for three hours during the party.
The bar served beer, wine and three cocktail drinks whose names fit the holiday season: Jingle Bell Smash, Mistletoe Martini and Feliz Navidad.
The single-biggest expense for the party was for catered food totaling $46,291 in appetizer-sized servings of meatballs, crispy ravioli, empanadas, fruit, cheese, sliders, twice-baked potatoes, coconut crusted shrimp, chicken bites, spring rolls, middlins, cupcakes, caramel popcorn and pretzel wands.
JEA paid $4,428 for three magicians to perform over a two-hour period. Other expenses were for invitations, party decorations, gift bags, parking swipes for using a garage near the theater, and a photo booth. The total for all invoices was $72,496.
Stultz said JEA considered setting up a cash bar where attendees would pay for their drinks but decided on using an open bar where the utility covered the cost of those drinks. He said it's become commonplace at holiday events for people to drink alcoholic beverages and it would have undermined the message of employee appreciation to charge workers and their guests at the bar.
JEA employees could bring a spouse or significant other to the party. The RSVP for the event totaled 617 employees and 379 guests. The actual attendance was about 760 people, a figure that includes both employees and their guests.
In an email sent the day after the "Night of Magic" party, JEA CEO Stowe wrote that when he first heard the idea of having party, he was reluctant because he wasn't sure how many people would attend, but he saw it as a possibly fun event for employees like a previous get-together at a Jumbo Shrimp baseball game.
"So they kept working on the idea and ultimately, we decided to give it a try," Stowe wrote. "Turns out, I am glad they suggested it."
Stowe wrote he and his wife were able to meet fellow employees and their guests, and it showed "we can have a team of people we are close to and that we can have fun with them."
"If we work together it will make us a better team," Stowe wrote. "It takes all of us working together to do the right thing to help make us the best utility in the nation."
JEA also rewarded employees in November for performance measures achieved by the agency during the 2023 fiscal year.
JEA paid out nearly $4.4 million in incentives in November because the utility hit benchmarks for employee safety and satisfaction among business customers. The utility fell short on performance measures for residential customer satisfaction and controlling costs for operations and maintenance. The incentives were spread across the entire workforce except for Stowe, whose contract excludes him from receiving incentive pay.
JEA customers have been paying more for electricity over the past three years, mainly because of a spike in the global cost of natural gas, the main fuel used by JEA to generate electricity. In mid-2021, the typical JEA residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours paid a $108.50 bill before taxes and fees. That bill hit a highwater mark of $161.29 in September 2022 and had dropped to $116.73 in December when JEA had its holiday party.
The typical bill in April will be $115.20 before taxes and fees because of continued decreases in fuel costs, even as JEA boosted the base rate part of the bill for the third time in three years to cover the cost of buying electricity from the Plant Vogtle nuclear plant as required by a 2008 contract.
JEA has not increased its water and sewer rates, which most customers pay on the same bill as their electricity. JEA says the party recognized employees for work toward having a combined bill that is the lowest for a municipal utility in Florida.
JEA also paid for an open bar a second time in February. That bar provided drinks for a one-hour period during a Feb. 24 awards banquet in Jacksonville for the Florida Electric Association's Florida Lineman Competition Rodeo. JEA hosted the competition at Metropolitan Park in which linemen from across the state squared off in skills-based challenges.
The holiday party at the Florida Theatre and JEA's involvement in the Lineman Rodeo were part of JEA's corporate events team that the utility started in October. The new team comprised of three JEA staff members is in charge of organizing internal and external events. Those include JEA board meetings and one-off events such as a "Women in Trades" event JEA put on with the city on March 19 as part of Women's History Month.
Asked whether JEA will do a holiday party again in 2024, Stultz said decisions on events will be made on a "case by case basis."
"We will still look for opportunities to express our appreciation to our employees," he said. "They're vital to this community."
