GA PSC Provides $7 Million for Heating Bills

More than 26,000 low-income Georgia households on the Atlanta Gas Light Company system will be eligible to receive grants up to $250 each to help pay their winter natural gas heating bills.

On February 21, the Georgia Public Service Commission approved the allocation of $7 million from the state’s natural gas Universal Service Fund (USF) to the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR), the LIHEAP grantee.

The Commission also provided funds to cover the administrative costs incurred by the local community action agencies that process energy assistance applications. The administrative costs will be 6.2 percent of the total grant or $412,315, for a total USF disbursement of over $7 million.

Commissioner Angela Speir, who made the motion to provide assistance, said, “The cost of natural gas has increased dramatically over the last several years. This increase is a substantial problem for all consumers. But, it is especially difficult for low-income consumers and senior citizens on fixed incomes.”

The USF was established under Georgia’s original gas deregulation law and is funded through surcharges on large industrial users. Initially designed to benefit the gas industry, the law was amended in 2001 and energy assistance is now the primary recipient of the fund. The Commission has disbursed more than $59.1 million in refunds and grants to assist Georgia’s natural gas low-income senior citizens and other low-income citizens on the AGLC system since the advent of natural gas deregulation in 1998. Additionally, a total of $117.8 million in total grants and refunds have been approved by the Commission to all natural gas customers on the AGL system since 1998.

More information is available on the Commission web site under the Docket Number 12897.

Page Last Updated: February 28, 2008