How you can save money on your gas bill due to Georgia natural gas deregulation. What changed, and what it means for you.
Georgia is unusual. In most of the United States, a single utility both delivers natural gas and sets its price, and households have no say in either. In most of Georgia, those two functions were separated — and the pricing half was opened to competition. That is why you can shop, and why comparing Georgia natural gas rates is worth doing at all.
Georgia passed the Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act in 1997, and the residential market opened over the following years. The law split the business in two:
AGL does not sell you gas any more. It is a delivery company. Your marketer does not own any pipe. Understanding that division explains nearly everything else about the Georgia market.
Your statement shows both halves. The supply charge is competitive and is the part you control by shopping. The AGL delivery and base charges are PSC-regulated and are identical across every marketer — no one can discount them. Understand your natural gas bill walks through each line.
Choice exists on the Atlanta Gas Light system, which covers most of the state’s gas customers, including Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon and the surrounding metro areas.
It does not apply everywhere. Customers served by Atmos Energy or Liberty Utilities are in regulated territory: those companies both deliver the gas and set the rate, under PSC oversight, and there is no marketer to choose. Municipal gas systems operate under their own arrangements too.
Deregulation kept a safety net. Georgia designates a regulated provider — a role SCANA Energy has held — to serve customers who cannot qualify with a competitive marketer, typically for credit reasons. Its regulated rate is set with PSC involvement rather than freely by the company. More in poor credit? you have options.
Honestly, it depends on whether you participate. Competition created a real spread between the cheapest and most expensive offers — frequently 30¢ or more per therm. Households that shop and re-shop capture that. Households that enroll once and never look again often end up on a rolled-over variable rate well above market, and do worse than they would have under a single regulated price.
Deregulation gave you the opportunity to save, not the saving itself. The saving requires about fifteen minutes a year.
The same law that opened the market set rules for marketers: disclosure of terms before enrollment, notice before a contract rolls over, and a complaint route through the PSC. See Georgia natural gas consumer protections and how to file a complaint.
Compare every marketer on the rate comparison page, read how to switch Georgia gas suppliers, or look at individual marketers such as Georgia Natural Gas, Gas South or Walton EMC Natural Gas.