Spring 2024 Journal Sponsor Highlight Jackson Energy Authority

Many know Jackson Energy Authority as the company who keeps their power on, who they pay their electric bill to, or who powers their favorite streaming services. But JEA is so much more than just the entity who keeps your home running comfortably and properly. It is the people who set it apart.

“It’s neat to see how things are done differently now with advanced high-tech equipment, but the one thing that has been consistent over our history is the people,” Monte Cooper, president and CEO of JEA, said. “You can have the best equipment and the most robust material in the world, but if it’s not installed properly and it’s not maintained by the people, then you don't have anything. So, we’ve done our best to hire exceptionally skilled and bright employees — people who truly care about the consumer and do the right thing every day. Our people are our most important asset and always will be.”

Born out of the previous Jackson Utility Division, JEA became an authority created by a private act of the State of Tennessee in 2001. Unlike many utility companies across the nation, JEA doesn't have shareholders they must return a profit to, but instead, the stakeholders are simply the ratepayers. This means that the ratepayer money stays in Jackson, benefiting the community through investments in local nonprofits and in city and county government. There is a unique balance that JEA tries to maintain: a high level of service while remaining affordable. As a nonprofit entity, JEA is run by its board of directors made up of five professionals from diverse backgrounds that range from human resources and banking to education and engineering.

Monte is a Jackson native and began his career in the utility industry while studying engineering as a college student. To earn extra money while in school, he began working for Jackson Utility Division as a cooperative engineer while finishing his degree. After graduating from college and working in Memphis for a year, Monte received an offer from Jackson Utility Division for a full-time position as an electric project engineer. Monte has worked at JEA for over 28 years and has seen the exciting growth and transition from JUD to the Jackson Energy Authority we all know today.

“We want to be the choice of our consumer for the right reasons, in that we’re affordable, we’re reliable, we’re the easy button so to speak,” Cooper said.

JEA stands out through its ability to be a “one-stop shop” for everything you could need. It provides electricity, natural gas, propane, water, wastewater, and broadband services.

“We get more positive commentary from our customers who have lived elsewhere and then moved to Jackson. They say, ‘Oh! This is outstanding. We call one number for all our services. Everything is on one bill, and we don’t have to write separate checks.’ But for the people who have always lived here, it’s just normal,” Cooper added.

JEA has an underground bunker where its state-of-the-art control center is located. This control center is operated by someone 24 hours a day, every day of the year. These operators see any outages that happen and dispatch crews to restore the outage as quickly as possible. No matter if it’s 2 a.m. or Christmas morning, this control center is operating, ensuring that the customers always have what they need. In the utility business, the goal is to make things easy. Conceptually, people could do things on their own. After all, there are other ways to generate power and get water or heat your home. However, JEA wants to offer the convenience of being able to achieve those things without the consumer even thinking about it.

Jackson Energy Authority has been recognized nationally, winning awards in all areas of utilities. It has been voted best-tasting water in Tennessee and received scores of 100 in sanitary surveys, among many other awards.

“The dream I have for JEA is to maintain being that nationally recognized utility, while at the same time doing everything for the benefit of our local community and our ratepayers,” Cooper said. “Jackson is in a really good period of growth; it’s a healthy growth. We’re looking forward to Jackson Energy Authority expanding our systems to meet increasing demands. We’re in a great spot from a growth perspective. We have the capacity and the ability to expand with the community and continue to provide excellent service to our customers.”

Our Jackson Home is thankful for JEA’s support of our nonprofit so that this journal you’re holding in your hands can be free of cost and tell the stories of those who make Jackson home to us all.