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Atlanta Gas Light Company "Base Charge" Detail
Atlanta Gas Light Company Notes
How to read your meter
The AGL "Base Charge"
There are some changes that have begun happening with how the base charge is billed starting in February, 2001. Apparently the annual base charge amount will not change, but how it is billed to you will change. You can still use the table below to figure your base charge, then multiply it by 12 to get the total annual charge. To get your base charge figure for a given month, multiply your annual charge by the percentage for that month as follows:
Jan 18%, Feb 19%, Mar 15%, Apr 8%, May 4%, Jun-Oct 3%, Nov 7%, Dec 14%
Information last updated: April, 2000
The AGL "base charge" can vary at the whim of AGL (with GPSC approval of course).
| Base Charge Component | Amount ($) | Notes |
| Base Customer Charge | 9.05 | This is reduced to $0.05 for low income senior citizens |
| Design Day Capacity Charge | 5.69 * DDDC | |
| Meter Reading Charge | 0.71 | |
| Social Responsibility | 0.20 | Somtimes varies up to $0.24 |
| Franchise Recovery | 0.50 * DDDC | |
| Education Charge | 0.13 | |
| Peaking Service Charge (sometimes called LNG) | 0.94 * DDDC | |
| Pipeline Replacement Fee | 0.11 | Added in October 1999 |
| Environmental Responsibility | 0.0208 * DDDC | Added in October 1999 |
At DDDC = 1.29, Total Base Charges = $19.44
I have been told that I should actually be using a "decatherm factor" rather than DDDC in the above calculations. The decatherm factor is calculated as DDDC * 1.025. This brings total actual base charges to $19.70. Since the difference is miniscule and I have been unable to find any good information on the basis for this, I am sticking to using just DDDC for now.
You may also see other charges on your bill listed as part of the base charge. AGL insists (after several calls to confirm) that the only charges they require of marketers are those listed above. The AGL web site confirms this. Those charges listed as variable generally only vary by a few cents a month. Any other charges you see on your bill itemized under the base charge or elsewhere are added by the marketer. See the Marketer Notes for more information on this. Note that some readers have noticed other charges on their bills that were imposed by their local municipalities or counties (i.e, special taxes).
The charges below would appear as part of the base charge on AGL customer bills only. Since AGL has no direct customers anymore, no one should see these charges on his or her bill. AGL does not pass these charges to marketers. If these charges appear on your bill, your marketer is charging them, not AGL.
| Customer Service Charge | 1.57 | |
| Transition Sales Service | 0.99 |
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General
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AGL used an excessively complex formula to calculate its gas consumption charges, but the equivalent price as of September 1999 was .3623 per therm, transportation charges included. Variability was extreme with prices fluctuating below .35 and above .50. You can no longer buy gas from AGL directly after September, 1999. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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"Pools"
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The fees AGL charges marketers to transport gas to your residence actually differ slightly depending on where you live, and you may see this reflected in your gas consumption or pipeline charges. AGL divides the state up in to two pools (click for a map), and the transportation rates charged for delivery to Pool B are slightly higher than for Pool A. Some marketers charge different gas or transportation rates depending on your pool, and others charge the same fee to everyone. All calculations on this page reflect Pool A unless otherwise noted. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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DDDC
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DDDC (dedicated design day capacity) is a maximum usage factor for a residence calculated as the therms expected to be used on the coldest day of the year divided by 100. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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History
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At the beginning of 1999, AGL consumption formula = (DDDC * "demand price") + (market gas price * metered usage). "Demand price" is a number that fluctuates monthly. It seems to be the about the average market price for gas in a given month * 100, and in December, 1998 the "demand price" was $26.11 and the market gas price was $0.255. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Discounts
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AGLC offers a program is for low-income senior citizens. To qualify for the discount, you must be a residential customer 65 years of age or older with a combined household income of $10,000 or less each year, the gas service must be in your name, and you must live at the address where the gas service is provided. If you qualify for the discount, the customer charge [portion of the AGL base charge] is subtracted each month from the rate calculations on your gas bill (regardless of the marketer you choose). Accounts with the Senior Citizens Residential Discount will state, "You qualify for senior discount. We have subtracted the discount amount from this bill." To get this discount, you must fill out a form you can get from AGLC or on the AGLC web site. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Fortunately gas meters are pretty much all the same. Each dial represents a single number in the reading. Meters are read right to left, and you should write down the numbers in the same order, right to left.
Notice that each dial is read in a different direction. The rightmost dial is read clockwise, the next dial to the left is read counterclockwise, the third dial to the left is read clockwise, and the leftmost dial is read counterclockwise.
When a hand points between two numbers, it is always read as the lower number (except for between 9 and 0, which is read as 9). When a hand seems to be right on a number, you have to check the dial to the right. If the hand on the dial to the right is on or past zero, then the correct reading is the number under the hand. If the hand on the dial to the right has not reached zero, the correct reading is one number less.
An example: Remember to read the dials and write down numbers from right to left. The hand of the rightmost dial is on 5. Write down 5. The hand of the next dial to the left is between 0 and 9. Write down 9 as the next digit. The hand on the third dial to the left is directly on 4. Since the hand on the dial to its right has not reached zero, write down 3 as your third digit. Finally, the hand on the leftmost dial is between 1 and 2. Write down 1 as the leftmost digit. The final reading is 1395.
The reading indicates the total number of CCF (hundreds of cubic feet) that have passed through the meter since all dials read zero. You will need to check your bill for the CCF to therms conversion factor.
© 2000 Barry E. Newton. All rights reserved.
