GEORGIA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 
Commissioners: Bobby Baker, Chairman David N. Baker Bob Durden Lauren "Bubba" McDonald, Jr. Stan Wise 
 
NEWS RELEASE 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 6,1998 
CONTACT: Shawn Davis Public Information Officer (404) 656-6558 or 1-800-282-5813 
 
GAS BILLS CHANGE AS ATLANTA GAS LIGHT PREPARES FOR COMPETITION 
~:.r L./\i\i fA - f\tlanta Gas Light Company's 1.4 million residential and small business i:ustonlers in Georgia are beginning to see changes in their bills necessary for the utility to prepar"e for competition this November. The change customers will notice first is that the base .1'lai~1;~s in gas bills are now annualized. The new billing mechanism is similar to budget hilling vvhere customers pay roughly the same amount each month. This results in higher bills in. tile summer that will be offset by lower bills in the winter. Customer confusion is growing as surnn"er blll~3 arrive. 
The billing changes are the result of legislation passed in 1997 which sets the stage for competition in the natural gas market beginning in November. The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) implemented the legislation in June with the expectation that competition w,1I bnng better service, more choices and potential savings over time. Nearly thirty cxnpanies are eager to start signing-up customers this fali pending PSC certification. 
'. )1"Jce the legislation is fully implemented, AGL will no longer sell gas directly to consumers, ::<,t Viii! deliver gas for marketing cC:llpanies vvho will sell gas at competitive rates to homes ;'ind businesses. The method of delivering the gas to homes and businesses will not change. Tile prices charged by AGL to marketers for delivery service will continue to be regulated L,ecause the infrastructure itself remains a monopoly. However. marketers will offer their own ;'ompctitive rates to consumers starting November 1. 1998. 
~:in(;e. in the near future. Atlanta Gas Light Company will only be delivering gas for !:l(;jrkders. it is necessary for the utility to separate the costs of delivering gas from the cost of p"le OdS itself Effective July 1, the utility began to level out. or annualize, the delivery portion of thE: customer bill - similar in concept to bUdget billing. That means instead of paying more in trlE 'Hinter and iess in the sum~ner for delivery, customers will pay about the same amount '.=:-aci'J rnonth. So this summer, bills will be higher than last summer. Accordingly, had the utility :Tlple1nented these changes in the winter, bills would have been lower than last winter. The consu:llption portion of the customer's bill wiil continue to vary depending on how much gas 1;-1e cu~;tomer uses during the billing period. 
I\lot or"tiy has rhe billing mechanism changed, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) I~'::; stili 'hTestling with how to assess certain transitional costs consumers must pay to convert LOTI a rnonopoly run system to a market based system, The average residential customer, 
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 'c'iho uses an average of 880 therms of gas per year for cooking, water and space heating, car; expect an increase between 3 to 7 % percent of their total bill. The average small commercial customer (5.717 therms per year) will see nominal increases from .75% to '1-45%,. Though the increase will be significant to many consumers, it is important to note that the uti!lty has not seen a rate increase since 1993. Typical increases in a regulated market ,3veraDe betlNeen 3 to 4 % percent The final rate structures will be known in the coming weeks once deliberations are completed at the PSC. 
The utility is also implementing a new late charge effective with late July bills. Through July hill inserts, the utility notified customers last month that a penalty of 1% or $10.00 (whichever i::.:, greaten would be applied to late bills. However, at the urging of the PSC, the utility has a~lreeLi to reduce the late charge to 1% or $5.00 (whichever is greater) and will only apply it ,.) (It?iinquent balances of $15.00 or more. The change in late fees is necessary to offset the costs Imposed on the utility by delinquent customers. 
C;a:3 bills are made up of two components. The gas delivery charge represents about one- 
third ':iT the total bill and compensates Atlanta Gas Light Company for its cost of prOViding gas service plus a return. The consumption charge represents about two-thirds of the total bill and Inc/uces the cost of the natural gas itself and the amount actually ,used by the customer. 
8efor,~ JUly 1. the gas delivery charges were based each month on the volume of gas each custo;oler used during that billing period. As a result, the old gas delivery charges fluctuated tm-:)uqrlOut the year (see chart attached) from an average low of about $12.97 for summer 
r-ncntt~s to ar average high of about $28.03 in midwinter. Because the new gas delivery 
charges are now annualized, customers will pay a higher amount this july and August (ompa(ed vvith what they paid last year However, customers will pay a lower delivery charge liilS winter compared to what they paid last winter. The ne\i\l monthly delivery charge is based >.:n tt'le average peak demand a given customer places on the system. 
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