The Georgia Senate approved House Bill 822 by a vote of 52-0Wednesday, paving the way for a one time, statewide customerassignment process to occur before the next heating season. Havingalready passed the House of Representatives unanimously, theamendment only needs Gov. Roy Barnes’ signature before it becomeslaw.

The amendment gives the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC)the ability to deem any of the nine pool groups in the state ascompetitive. Once the pool attains competitive status, its memberswill have 100 days to choose a supplier before the GPSC assignsthem to one. After the assignment process concludes, AGL will havetotally exited the merchant function.

Public Service Commissioner Bobby Baker said once the GPSCattains the ability to judge a pool’s market competition, thingswill happen quickly. “We’ll investigate each area and evaluate themarket. The three main things we will look for are abundance ofmarketers, price competition, and an even balance of residential,commercial, and industrial switches. I don’t think any of the poolswill have a hard time demonstrating competitiveness. We’re shootingfor the completion of the random assignment process by Aug. 31.”

Baker said docket 10473 has been opened in the GPSC inanticipation of the bill’s passage. This docket requests that thethree pools that have passed the 33% mark be deemed competitive butalso allows an opportunity for more pools to be added. Baker saidif the bill is passed, the GPSC will attempt to put all the poolsonto the docket regardless of percentages.

One result from the bill’s success, Baker said, is a revivedinterest in becoming a certified marketer in Georgia. Last week,KeySpan and Sonat applied to be a marketer, and Southeast StatesEnergy, a marketing subsidiary of Perry Gas Co., Inc., had itscertification approved. “I don’t know why they entered so late, butnow is a good time. If this amendment passes and all the pools arelabeled competitive, AGL will send out a flyer to all the customersit still serves saying they only have 100 days to pick a supplierbefore they are assigned. AGL will also provide a list of marketersto those customers. These new marketers definitely want theadvertising associated with that list.” John Norris

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