As part of a program approved last year by Georgia regulators, Atlanta Gas Light Co. (AGL) has signed agreements with the City of Atlanta and three commercial operators to open five compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations around the state.

The deals drew praise from the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), which last November approved the utility investing nearly $12 million in CNG fueling facilities around the state (see Daily GPI, Nov. 2, 2011).

Commissioner Doug Everett said the move supports the PSC’s goal of adding more CNG fueling stations throughout Georgia. The public now will have CNG access not just in metropolitan Atlanta, but also in Savannah and Valdosta, Everett said.

Everett also praised the utility’s use of a universal service fund to pay for the CNG fueling facilities and not revenues from the general utility ratepayers.

Following months of market studies, a series of public hearings in late 2010 and early 2011 to review plans and a Georgia General Assembly vote authorizing the use of the statewide fund supported by an industrial utility customers’ surcharge, AGL filed its plan with the PSC last year (see Daily GPI, May 17, 2011). At the time AGL said it envisioned a network throughout the greater Atlanta area and along major transportation corridors in the state.

AGL parent company AGL Resources Co. has been carving out a business in the spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, which can include the heavy duty truck fleet market.

Three of the new CNG stations will be in metro Atlanta — two operated by local government in the city and a third in suburban Forest Park (Premier Transportation) — one in Savannah (Colonial Group Inc.); and another in Valdosta (The Langdale Company). An AGL spokesperson said the stations are expected to be operating by mid-2013.

In addition to a $6.5 million investment from the universal service fund, Atlanta Gas Light eventually will provide another $5 million for additional stations. Service station owner-operators, along with their CNG customers, will pay for site development and operating/maintenance costs.

The utility will provide CNG to each station owner under a new rate approved by the PSC. AGL said the initiative is the first state-sponsored investment program in the Southeast that allows a utility to add infrastructure to its market without rate impacts on current customers.

Three years ago the PSC urged Atlanta Gas Light to develop a proposal to simulate CNG fueling station development in Georgia and “to bring the national focus on the emerging natural gas vehicle [NGV] market to the state,” Everett said. It was to solve the “‘chicken-egg’ problem that challenges first movers in any new market,” he said.

Under the program, station operators are not regulated by the PSC; their prices for CNG service are set by the market, Everett said.

The utility recently launched a program aimed at helping individual consumers and small businesses to more conveniently refuel at their homes or businesses. The program provides low cost leases of home refueling appliances, allowing vehicle owners to refill their CNG vehicles overnight. Monthly lease payments typically will be $60, with a minimum five-year commitment, including scheduled maintenance and installation of the equipment, AGL said.

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