| How is my natural gas bill set up? | | Your natural gas bill consists of three main parts. | | 1. | The base charge or sometimes the AGL Charge. This is regulated and set by the Commission. | | 2. | Gas charge. This is the cost of the gas used. Natural gas prices are set by the marketers, not the Commission. | | 3. | Sales Taxes. This is set by the state, county and city where you live. |
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| What is the purpose of the base charges? | | The base charge recovers Atlanta Gas Light company's (AGLC) costs associated with delivering gas, maintaining the pipeline, replacing bare and corroded pipes, storing purchased gas, meter-reading, customer service, and other costs associated with delivering natural gas to your home. |
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| Does everyone pay the same base charge? | | No. The base charge is unique to each home or business. It is calculated with allowances for how much gas each home consumed during the coldest period of the past year. Having enough pipe and storage capacity to meet every customer's need during the coldest weather is the challenge AGLC must meet. The base charge for each home varies with the size of the home and the types of gas appliances used. |
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| Why is my base charge different each month? | | In response to public demand, the Commission reallocated the Dedicated Design Day Capacity charge (a component of the base charge) so that it would follow the typical peaks and valleys that correspond with seasonal usage. The percentages charged per month are as follows: | | Month | % of individual
residential base charge | | January | 18% | | February | 19% | | March | 15% | | April | 8% | | May | 4% | | June | 3% | | July | 3% | | August | 3% | | September | 3% | | October | 3% | | November | 7% | | December | 14% | | Total | 100% |
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| What are the components of the base charge? | | Your residential bill is made up of four components: a base charge, consumption charge, marketer customer service charge and sales tax. | | 1. | The Base Charge recovers the costs associated with the delivery of gas to a residential customer's home. It includes the following: | | | The Customer Charge is a fixed monthly fee per meter for gas connection to your home. | | $20.00 per month for residential customers | | Up to a $6.09 per month credit for low-income senior citizen customers |
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| | Ancillary Service covers the cost of meter reading. | |
| | Firm Distribution charge is an annual charge that recovers costs associated with delivering gas to a customer's premise. To calculate the monthly firm distribution charge: | $4.89 x DDDC factor x monthly percentage x 12
(see chart above to get monthly percentages) |
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| | Peaking Service covers the fixed cost of operating company-owned above ground storage facilities on the coldest day of the year. This service is only charged to customers in the Atlanta, Macon and Valdosta delivery groups. | |
| | Social Responsibility Fee covers the cost of funding the Senior Citizens Discount program for low-income seniors. | | May vary from month-to-month depending upon the number of seniors who receive the discount |
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| | Environmental Response Costs Charge recovers costs associated with the environmental clean-up of manufactured gas plant sites. | |
| | Franchise Recovery Fee (FRF) recovers fees paid by AGL to local governments for the use of public right-of-ways for its natural gas lines and other facilities. | |
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| Marketer charges | | Pursuant to the Natural Gas Deregulation and Competition Act enacted by the Georgia legislature in 1997. The law provides: "The price at which a marketer sells gas shall not be fixed by the commission." O.C.G.A. s. 46-4-160 (c). The Commission administers the Act, but does not have the authority to regulate prices. | | 2. | Consumption charges: Recovers the cost of gas that the customer used during the billing period. | | Consumption Charge | = | cents per therm | X | number of therms used |
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| | | 3. | Marketer Customer Service Charge recovers the cost of staffing to provide services such as rendering a bill, explanation of bill and other operating expenses. (Add your marketer's customer service charge to the "total amount of your bill.") | | 4. | Taxes: Applied to the total amount of your bill and includes state and local assessments. Local taxes may differ depending upon the city or county in which you live. |
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| NOTE: | | To view Atlanta Gas Light Company's (AGLC) breakdown of the current month's base charge, click base charge to be directed to AGLC's website. |
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