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JEA set to slowly begin disconnections Friday, around 10,000 customers could be impacted in coming days

A spokesperson for Jacksonville's utility said the first disconnections will be customers whose accounts owed money before the COVID shutdowns.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Utility disconnections across JEA's service area will begin Friday morning on a rolling, hourly basis as around 10,000 customer accounts remain in delinquent status.

Not all delinquent customers will be disconnected Friday, according to JEA spokesperson Gina Kyle. Around 80-100 disconnections will be done every hour starting with accounts that were behind before the COVID shutdowns in March.

In early June, First Coast News reported that more than 24,000 JEA customers faced disconnect on July 7. Later, Jacksonville City Council passed a relief program that gave around 10,000 JEA customers debit cards with $200 to make utility payments.

The 10,000 customers facing disconnection starting Friday are not recipients of the pre-loaded cards.

Kyle said the utility faced a huge increase in calls earlier in the week, leading the disconnections to be postponed to Friday. She said since earlier in the week, inquiries about payment arrangements and payment transactions have dipped, leading to the decision to proceed with disconnections.

"Our plan is to start slowly, to avoid long hold times for those trying to reach JEA to manage their accounts via the call center," Kyle said. "We want to ensure that everyone has the ability to contact us for payment arrangements."

Non-payment disconnections will run from 9 a.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Fees usually imposed to restore service are waived until September 30.

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