State Rep. Yvonne Hinson is urging the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority to publicly outline how it plans to stabilize the utility’s finances after customers raised alarms about the utility’s latest financial disclosures and a series of recent rate increases.
In an April 14 press release, Hinson, D-Gainesville, cited growing concerns from residents following what she described as frequent electric rate hikes, including a fourth fuel adjustment increase that took effect April 1 without sufficient notice to customers.
“As a member of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, I take these concerns seriously. I am calling on the GRU Authority to present a full, public financial recovery plan that clearly explains how the utility will stabilize its finances without further burdening ratepayers,” Hinson wrote. “The Legislature promised a more affordable and stable utility when it overturned the will of GRU’s ratepayers. It is now the Legislature’s responsibility to ensure that promise is kept.”
Since December 2025, GRU has increased the fuel adjustment charge by 20 mills over four months, raising it four times by 5 mills each. The increases resulted in an average $20 rise in customer bills in 2026, with the total adjustment rising from 35 mills to 55 mills.
GRU did not alert customers to the fourth fuel adjustment increase but did issue a press release for the previous three rate hikes. The utility has told The Sun multiple times that it does not profit from the fuel adjustment charge, saying it fluctuates with market prices and was increased due to natural gas shortages caused by a “record-breaking winter.”
GRU spokesperson David Warm told The Sun on Dec. 29 that before the first fuel adjustment increase in December 2025, the charge had not changed since April 2024.
With $47.7 million below its total cash-on-hand target across the utility system, Hinson said GRU currently has 23 days of operating cash systemwide — well below its 60-day target — and that the electric system has exhausted its operating cash and is operating in the negative.
According to GRU’s April 8 cash and liquidity update, “electric, water, GRUCom and combined operating cash levels are below the 60-day target.”
Hinson added that GRU approved a $16 million emergency transfer from reserves to keep operations going and is preparing to take on approximately $150 million in new debt — a move she said would erase multiple years of prior debt-reduction progress.
GRU CEO Ed Bielarski responded in a April 15 email to The Sun, calling it “disheartening to see a trusted public servant so grossly mischaracterize the truth, especially as she sat quietly for many years as the City Commission destructively mismanaged GRU.
“I am glad that Rep. Hayes Hinson is finally paying attention to GRU; however, we desperately need leadership that relies on facts and data, not commissioner-produced TikTok videos for their information,” Bielarski said.
Though not mentioned by name, City Commissioner Bryan Eastman has made numerous social media posts criticizing the utility board’s decisions.
Pointing to previous City Commission decisions involving GRU — such as the 2017 approval of the $750 million GREC biomass plant — Bielarski disputed Hinson’s claims of “deteriorating finances,” calling the actions standard utility practices recommended by GRU’s budget, financing and accounting staff and approved by both him and the authority board.
“The irony of Rep. Hayes Hinson’s solution to the alleged concerns over GRU’s ‘deteriorating finances’ is that leaving GRU’s reserves untouched would impose even further increases on GRU customers,” Bielarski wrote. “After all, if we didn’t take money from well-funded reserves that have been set aside to pay this variable fuel expense, we would necessarily need to increase electric base rates. That is something the Authority and I are committed to avoiding.”
Bielarski said the utility has $145 million in cash reserves — about $30 million more than its targeted level — and likened the situation to managing personal checking and savings accounts.
“If one needs to pay a bill that draws their checking balance too low, you then move it from their savings,” Bielarski said.
Calling the fuel adjustment a pass-through cost, Bielarski said an extremely cold winter caused fuel prices to spike and that the expense is passed on monthly to customers without profit. Rather than passing the cost on all at once, he said GRU spreads it over 12 months to lessen the impact on customer bills.
In response, GRU voted to move $16 million from its rate stabilization fund — which exists for situations like this —into a more accessible account.
Bielarski added that GRU is on track to reduce its debt by nearly $400 million and said the utility is taking on a long-planned $150 million in debt to fund improvements to its water and wastewater systems, completing upgrades to the Main Street Water Reclamation Facility first approved by the City Commission in 2019 and now entering Phase 2 of construction.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Rep. Hinson questions GRU finances as utility defends rate moves
Reporting by Elliot Tritto, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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