The 16 gas suppliers vying for Georgia customers had theirmoment of truth last Friday, as Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) determinedtheir market share and presented the results to the Georgia PublicService Commission (GPSC). As expected, Georgia Natural GasServices, an AGL affiliate, and Scana Energy Marketing gained themost customers, receiving over 60% of the market between them.

Overall, close to 1.1 million people switched gas suppliers fromAGL during the eight-month switching process. That leaves over300,000 people to be randomly assigned to the suppliers. The numberof customers a supplier gains from that pool will be determined byits market share. From the results AGL gave the GPSC, GeorgiaNatural stands to gain around 95,000 more customers and Scana willgain around 92,000.

One surprise, said a source close to the process, was the thirdplace finisher, Peachtree Natural Gas, which has gained 11% of theavailable customers so far. He had expected Shell Energy Services(the fourth place finisher with 10% of the market) or ColumbiaEnergy (who stands in fifth place with just over 5%) to placethird.

The number of people to be randomly assigned is higher than theGPSC considered ideal. “We had targeted 100,000 people as theamount we wanted to randomly assign,” said Nancy Tyler, a member ofthe GPSC gas staff. “From that standpoint, you could say we fellshort of our goal. But, from another point of view, nobody thoughtwe’d get to random assignment this fast either.”

Although it is not too late to switch from AGL, the utility isstarting to form its random assignment list today (Aug. 16). While theGPSC said it is important that people realize they can still switch,it also admitted confusion has crept into the process. Earlier lastweek, 77,000 people switched from AGL in one day, thinking it wastheir last chance before being put on a random assignment list (SeeDaily GPI, August, 12). In fact, theyhad a few more days to do so.

Switching suppliers after today is possible, but there aredrawbacks, said Robert Baker, a GPSC commissioner. “People who havewaited this long to switch now may face some problems. They couldswitch, but their name might still make it onto a random assignmentlist. Obviously if that happens, the supplier they selected wouldbe their provider, but there could be billing and paperwork issuesthat need to be cleared up.”

Next month, suppliers will notify the customers who have beenrandomly assigned to them. People can switch once for free, but AGLwill charge $7.50 for any subsequent changes. The utility isscheduled to exit the merchant function Oct. 1.

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