trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/gbors2y4oqjxvqn6x30xgw2 content esgSubNav
In This List

A look at the numbers behind JEA's potential sale

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Using ESG Analysis to Support a Sustainable Future

Research

US utility commissioners: Who they are and how they impact regulation

Blog

Q&A: Datacenters: Energy Hogs or Sustainability Helpers?


A look at the numbers behind JEA's potential sale

JEA, the Jacksonville, Fla., municipally owned power company, may potentially be going up for sale, based on recent conversations between city officials and utility management. A third-party consultant valued the utility at between $7.5 billion and $11 billion, including the water and electric utility segments.

SNL Image

If that upper estimate proves accurate, JEA's sale could rank among the highest values ever for a U.S. municipal electric utility, with the next-highest reported completed transaction value being the $9.5 million acquisition of the Hercules Municipal Utility by PG&E Corp. in 2014.

A more comparable Florida utility deal is the 2016 acquisition of investor-owned TECO Energy Inc. by Emera Inc. In 2016, TECO reported having 730,503 electric customers and making almost $2 billion in retail electric revenue. The company's operating power plants generated 17.6 million MWh of power, according to their Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Form 1 filing. The transaction value at the time of completion in 2016 was $10.6 billion.

In 2016, JEA reported having 453,703 electric customers, $1.2 billion in retail electric revenue and almost 12 million MWh of retail electric sales.

SNL Image

From an asset-level perspective, JEA owns stakes in five nonrenewable power plants, totaling 3,073 MW. These assets are almost all in Florida, except for the coal-fired Scherer plant in Georgia, in which JEA owns a 5.98% stake.

Together, JEA's owned assets produced just over 9 million MWh in 2016, with 7.8 million MWh coming from a combination of the Brandy Branch combined-cycle plant and the Northside Generating coal-fired plant. While the utility's natural gas fleet is relatively new, with all units except the J.D. Kennedy CT plant coming online after 2000, both coal-fired assets are older, with Northside Generating coming online in 1966 and Scherer's unit 4, in which JEA holds an ownership stake, coming online in 1989.

SNL Image

SNL Image

Did you enjoy this analysis? Click here to set alerts for future power Data Dispatches.