NGI Archives | NGI All News Access
GA Deregulation Amendment Moving Quickly
With seven scheduled days left in the present legislativesession, an amendment aimed at simplifying the assignment processin Georgia’s gas deregulation law is steam-rolling its way throughthe legislature. House Bill 822 passed through the state House ofRepresentatives with a 164-0 vote on Tuesday, and after a briefstay in the hands of the Senate Finance Committee, it is on its wayto the Senate floor for approval.
“The danger is always there that things might get held up andthe bill might not be passed,” said Georgia Public ServiceCommissioner (GPSC) Bob Baker. “But, I’d say it isn’t probable.We’ve talked to the senate and the governor, so things should getdone quickly.”
If passed, the bill entitles the GPSC to deem any of Georgia’s ninepools as a competitive gas market ( SeeDaily GPI, Feb 26). In the deregulation law, a competitive marketis reached when 33% of the population in the pool switch gas suppliersfrom Atlanta Gas Light (AGL). As it stands now, the pools must applyone by one when they reach competitiveness.
Baker said docket 10473 has been opened in the GPSC inanticipation of the bill’s passage. This docket requests for thethree pools that have passed the 33% mark, Newnan (36.5%), Augusta(38.6%), and Macon (37.2%), to be deemed competitive, but alsoallows an opportunity for more pools to be added. Baker said if thebill is passed, the GPSC will attempt to put all the pools onto thedocket.
“Plenty of people have switched,” he said. About 480,000customers have switched from AGL. “And to avoid the confusion ofhaving one area start the assignment process while the others wait,we want to get all of them on the same page.”
To make the assignment process as smooth as possible, informalworkshops are being held for the GPSC, the 19 marketers in thestate and AGL. The first workshop was held March 1, and it was sucha success Baker said another meeting is tentatively planned forlater this month.
One potential path being discussed is to start the assignmentprocess in one of the pools and use it as a test area. “This ideawas passed around, and many people showed genuine interest,” Bakersaid. “It is still in debate, but nobody has come out and said ‘Youcan’t do that.’ “
©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.
© 2024 Natural Gas Intelligence. All rights reserved.
ISSN © 1532-1231 | ISSN © 2577-9877 |