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Consumer Guide to Natural Gas Deregulation
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Senate Bill 215, The Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act of 1997
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The Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act's stated intent and purposes are to: promote
competition; protect the consumer during and after the transition to competition; maintain and
encourage safe and reliable service; deregulate those components of the industry subject to
actual competition; continue to regulate those services subject to monopoly power; promote an
orderly and expeditious transition of the industry toward fully developed competition; provide
for rate-making methods which include the use of straight fixed variable rate design, the recovery
of certain stranded costs and the use of alternative forms of rate regulation; and allow gas
companies the opportunity to compete effectively in a competitive marketplace. O.C.G.A. § 46-4-.151(b)(1)-(8).
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The Act was amended in 1999 with House Bill 822,
relating to customer assignment, and again in 2001 with Senate Bill 217,
which addressed pricing, billing, meter reading and other consumer issues.
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House Bill 1568, Natural Gas Consumers' Relief Act
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In 2002, the General Assembly passed the Consumers' Relief Act to set forth a Consumer Bill of Rights and
to establish a regulated provider for low-income and high risk customers. The Act increased consumer protection
and strengthened enforcement.
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Atlanta Gas Light Company Opens Market to Competition
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Soon after the passage of the Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act, Atlanta Gas Light Company elected
to open its territory to competition. By mid-1998, the Commission concluded its review of AGLC's rates and notice
of election. In its Final Order in Docket No. 8390-U, Notice
of Election and Application of Atlanta Gas Light Company, June 30, 1998, the PSC approved a new rate schedule and
set forth other conditions for the transition to competition, as required by the Act. Georgia's other local
distribution company, Atmos Energy, has not opened its market to competition.
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Marketer Certification
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To obtain a certificate of authority, an applicant must demonstrate to the Commission's satisfaction that it possesses
adequate financial and technical capability to sell or offer to sell natural gas within the state.
Rules Regarding Marketer Certification contain the determining criteria for the issuance of a
certificate of authority. Nineteen companies filed Applications for Marketers' Certificates of Authority
in late-1998. Others have since applied and been granted certificates. Few of the original Natural Gas Marketers
are actively operating in Georgia today.
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Reports On The Effectiveness of Competition in Georgia's Natural Gas Market
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