The Public Service Commission of Georgia (PSC) will vote thisweek on how to dispense the more than $30 million owed by AtlantaGas Light (AGL) to its customers. The utility accrued the extrafunds by over-collecting on the purchased gas cost section of thebill.

AGL said over-collections of this nature have occurred before.However, in prior years, AGL was able to adjust its rates to makeup for prior over-collections. Because of the recent unbundlingprogram, AGL no longer bills the gas users and therefore is forcedto issue refunds to all currently active customers who were on thesystem as of May 30, 1999. The payment will show up as a credit oncustomers’ bills, the PSC said.

“We knew that we would need to issue a reimbursement when we sawthe rate at which customers left the system,” said MillicentHunter, an AGL spokeswoman. “To prepare, we set up an escrowaccount, held by the PSC, which will cover most of the charges.”She said that the company deposited $33 million in the escrowaccount last month.

The PSC staff has recommended an equal reimbursement for allcustomers. Under this plan, each residential and small commercialcustomer would receive a payment of $25.41 most likely during theMarch or April billing cycle, according to the PSC. The otheroption is to base the refund on usage. While this option would bemore accurate, Hunter said it would require extra steps that wouldpotentially confuse customers.

“We tried to base our last refund on usage, and a lot ofconfusion resulted from that. This time around, we support the PSCstaff’s decision to go for the most straight-forward approach.

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