Atlanta Gas Light PASS THROUGH CHARGE (to rent, live, assess)

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by cityrover

I have no such charge however they sent me a bill for a few hundred $.. apparently they were aware it is not my bill, yet added on like 430 therms to my 8 and waited to see if I would be stupid enough to just pay it.. How nice of them.

Im seriously thinking going off the grid

its like 22 dollars now I think.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by vik707

I just realized I have this bull**it charge on my bill also(Pass through charge of $19.95 and customer service charge of $5.75....I did not know to actually get service there is a surcharge!)......so much for deregulating and bringing competition in....thanks for jacking up my bill......what can we do?

The only way I see to beat it is to live with all electric. I wonder why GA still uses gas over electricity.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by FlyiMetro

The only way I see to beat it is to live with all electric. I wonder why GA still uses gas over electricity.

I suspect gas is still cheaper even with the AGL charge.

[klgarrett1221]

Hey Arthur30024 e-mail me potential help, [email]lkg2002@msn.com[/email]

[iturn]

Can someone explain the necessity of marketers? why does agl need marketers and why can't agl market their own gas? It sounds too much like a gov't that has conspired with agl to stick it to the little guy. Back where I am from there was one gas company Consolidated Edison, and it was regulated.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by iturn

Can someone explain the necessity of marketers? why does agl need marketers and why can't agl market their own gas? It sounds too much like a gov't that has conspired with agl to stick it to the little guy. Back where I am from there was one gas company Consolidated Edison, and it was regulated.

Actually the conservatives in the state decided to deregulate the gas utility some time ago. I worked at one of the new companies back when it first began. It was over 10 years ago I know but can't remember the year.

Conservatives push the idea that if you have more companies you can find the best price on the marketplace versus using the monopoly gas supplier. It is similar to how Obamacare is marketed too - giving consumers more "choice" and "freedom" with their money. With any utility, you will always pay more due to the fact that the monopoly owns the lines, towers, pipes, whatever it is they are selling you and the monopoly will get their piece no matter what and they will service their own utility and the new company will just charge you a usage fee and pass on the rental cost of the gas pipes to you.

So in a way, it is better to have the monopoly. Many times "choice" is just a way for companies to stick you with more cost. After de-regulation we got an all electric house to avoid the gas charges. I don't understand how people say gas is less expensive than electric. Most months in GA, even in the heat of summer our home didn't have a bill over $200 a month (winter it was actually more than summer) but when we had gas only for hot water and cooking we would get $300 a month gas bills, which was ridiculous.

FWIW, I don't live in Atlanta anymore but the best thing IMO in regards to services and utilities in Atlanta is the sanitation department. I moved back to my home town where they got rid of city sanitation/garbage workers and the service is sub par compared to what it used to be. They do less and now we have to pay a yearly fee when before it was all paid via property taxes like COA. So don't let them take away the city garbage service. It is efficient and cheap compared to other municipalities, even those in Metro Atlanta. I didn't like the watershed there either but it is better it is with the city versus some deregulated company as you would pay more for water if it deregulated or was contracted out.

[AnsleyPark]

Many utilities charge a connection fee even if you don't use what they provide. Their line of thinking is that you have a connection to their service which you could choose to use. Making that "instant on" connection available to a homeowner means that the homeowner should pay for the provision of the infrastructure and its maintenance to the home. I see some logic in that, but $40 / month seems a bit much to me.

[kui101]

Can anyone suggest a way to avoid this AGL Pass Through Charges????? This charge alone is MORE than our gas consumption for the month. Something is wrong with this. My gas company is Gas South.

[flyonpa]

Originally Posted by kui101

Can anyone suggest a way to avoid this AGL Pass Through Charges????? This charge alone is MORE than our gas consumption for the month. Something is wrong with this. My gas company is Gas South.

Go all Electric, or Put in a Propane tank (Big) in the back yard.

Update all your appliances.

[YakiTaki]

I don't know about the propane Someone I know who lives in Acworth just paid about $1200 to fill up his propane tank. Not sure of capacity size but that bill freaked me out.