GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. — This week, the City of Green Cove Springs is having the first of two meetings to decide whether or not to raise your electric bill this year.
Action News Jax first told you in March about the city’s meeting with the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), which supplies the city’s utility company with its power, to first go over the plan to possibly raise power prices.
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If it happens, the city would raise rates for Green Cove Springs Electric customers by 14% at the start of June and then another 6% at the start of October, a total 20% increase by the end of the year.
People like Sherry Adair, who pays for electricity through the city and has been living in Green Cove Springs for the last six years, are worried about the shock it would bring to their wallets.
“It’s going to hurt, especially because it’s in the summertime,” said Adair, who tells Action News Jax that electricity costs her $200 per month on average, “it’s already going to be $300 by then. So this increase would put it up probably to $400.”
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Adair tells Action News Jax she’s especially concerned about how an electric rate increase would affect people on a fixed income, like Beth Wrigley, who’s retired and worried about whether or not raising the power bill would force her to go back to work.
“If prices continue to go up, yeah, a lot of people are coming out of retirement to go back to work, which is really sad. Shouldn’t be that way,” Wrigley said.
The FMPA, in its most recent proposal of the plan, said the higher costs are needed to fill a gap of about $3 million in revenue it says is needed by the end of 2026. Before this plan to raise rates, the city had approved a plan to raise rates twice last year. The city tells Action News Jax, before then, it had been years since a rate increase was approved.
The city is having a public meeting Tuesday night starting at 6:00 PM inside City Hall to go over the plan. The next meeting will be held on May 20th, when a final decision is expected to be made.
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