JEA’s top executive received a contract extension and pay raise to $700,000 under action Feb. 24 by the board of the city-owned utility.
The six-member board voted unanimously to extend Vickie Cavey’s contract by three years and increase her salary by 25% over the $560,000 she received in May 2024 when she was hired as interim CEO and managing director.
In September 2024, the board promoted Cavey to the position long-term and gave her a contract with the same terms as the agreement for her interim role, which included a $2,000 monthly allowance for telephone service and other business expenses, and an option allowing her to be provided with a JEA vehicle or receive a monthly automobile allowance of $850.
Under the new contract, Cavey will receive a 3% annual increase in compensation. The agreement allows up to two one-year extensions and calls for an annual performance review.
Board chair Joe DiSalvo said the new contract offers no changes in Cavey’s business and transportation allowances.
The increase brings Cavey’s compensation more in line with the salary that her predecessor, Jay Stowe, was earning when he resigned from the utility. Stowe was making $669,500 when he stepped down in April 2024 amid what board chair Joe DiSalvo described as a philosophical disagreement between Stowe and board members about how to lead the utility.
Under Stowe’s contract, he was set to receive a 3% salary increase that would have brought his compensation to about $690,000 this year.
Members of the board’s Compensation Committee had discussed raising Cavey’s salary to $807,000 based on a market analysis showing the JEA CEO salary level in the bottom 40% for large utilities.
The vote came at a meeting in which the board held a hearing on proposed rate increases for electric, water and sewer service. JEA estimated that average households would see a 3.6% increase in their utility bill if the increase receives final approval.
Board member John Baker III said that although the salary increase “jumps off the page,” he believed it was justified given Cavey’s performance and leadership ability.
“When Vickie was hired as an interim she came in at well below market,” he said. “And she has done an absolutely remarkable job of turning things around at JEA in so many respects, in streamlining it and making it more efficient.
“We have got a really great leader. And it’s incumbent on any business that has a great leader to compensate them fairly.”
The vote on Cavey’s salary came after the board held a public hearing on proposed rate increases for electric, water and sewer service for both residential and commercial ratepayers. According to JEA estimates, the new rates would increase the monthly utility bill of average households by 3.7%.
The board plans to vote on the increases at its March 25 meeting.
DiSalvo said the increase in Cavey’s salary would not affect customer rates.
During an October 2024 session with reporters, JEA staff said factors behind the proposed increases included that water and sewer rates had not been adjusted in 12 years despite a rising cost of providing those services and millions of dollars spent to repair, expand and modernize infrastructure. Inflation has driven up costs, as have ongoing supply chain issues that have increased the price of materials such as transformers and utility poles.
Another key factor is JEA’s long-term agreement to purchase power generated by the Plant Vogtle nuclear facility in Georgia at about $250 million per year over the next 20 years. The cost reflects delays and cost overruns in the construction of the $35 billion plant.
JEA, which entered the agreement in 2008, sued to get out of the deal as costs increased but ended up settling.
Cavey joined JEA in 1984 as a mechanical engineer and went on to hold such titles as special assistant to the CEO for external affairs, director of strategy development and execution, and director of strategic partnerships and acquisitions.
In March 2024, she came out of retirement to rejoin JEA again when board members asked her to serve as a liaison between them and Stowe’s administration to review the utility’s organizational structure and help choose an independent consultant that the board would pay to examine JEA’s capital improvement plan.