How to Compare Atlanta Gas Light Prices

About Atlanta Gas Light

Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) is Georgia’s regulated natural gas utility company. It owns and maintains over 23,000 miles of pipeline, handles metering, system maintenance, and ensures safe delivery of natural gas to more than 1.6 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers across 243 communities.

AGL does not sell natural gas supply itself; instead, consumers purchase gas from independent marketers. ​​AGL does provide the infrastructure and services to deliver gas, and its regulated charges are passed through to you on your gas bill. These include things like your base delivery rate, meter reading, system maintenance, pipeline safety, and other fixed and variable components.

Due to deregulation in Georgia, when comparing “Atlanta Gas Light rates” and “Atlanta Gas Light prices,” what often matters most is the marketer’s gas supply rate plus the fixed AGL delivery or pass-through charges.

What are Atlanta Gas Light Pass-Through Charges?

“Pass-through charges” is a term generally used to refer to the regulated delivery/base charges that AGL passes through to customers via marketers. These are unavoidable fixed and partially variable fees that cover the cost of infrastructure, services, and ensuring that natural gas can be delivered safely and reliably to your home or business.

Key things to know about pass-through charges:

• The Georgia Public Service Commission regulates these charges, so AGL does not set them arbitrarily.
• Whether you’re with Marketer A or Marketer B (whoever provides your natural gas), your “AGL pass-through” portion will be the same. What differs among marketers is the supply cost per therm (or fixed price plan).
• They are billed monthly, and some components (like the Dedicated Design Day Capacity) are calculated annually and then allocated across months.
• These pass-through charges tend to increase in colder months when gas demand is high, since AGL must ensure capacity to serve customers during peak usage periods.

Common components of AGL pass-through charges include:

• Customer Charge (fixed)
• Ancillary services (meter reading, etc.)
• Dedicated Design Day Capacity (DDDC) charge
• Peaking Service (for certain delivery areas)
• Franchise Recovery Fee, Social Responsibility Fee, Environmental Response Cost Recovery, etc.

What are AGL Dedicated Design Day Capacity (DDDC) Charges?

The Dedicated Design Day Capacity (DDDC) is a crucial concept in how AGL determines part of your base/pass-through charges. It represents how much natural gas delivery capacity your home or business requires on the coldest (design) day of the year. AGL uses past winter usage, structure size, gas appliances, and other factors to calculate this.

How it works:

• Annual Recalculation: AGL recalculates your DDDC every year (often in late summer / early fall), based on past usage. If your usage during the previous cold season changed significantly (more or less use), your DDDC might increase or decrease.
• Allocation Across Months: Although DDDC is an annual cost, AGL distributes it through a fixed schedule of percentages across different months, with higher allocations in cold months and lower ones in summer. E.g., January, February, and December carry much larger percentages than mid-summer months.
• Impact on Cost: The higher your DDDC, the higher your fixed or infrastructure-related charges will be. Even if you reduce gas use in non-winter months, DDDC tends to dominate the base segment of your pass-through costs. This means large users or those with inefficient heating/insulation tend to have higher total bills even with the same per-therm supply rate.

Practical takeaways:

• Improving efficiency (reducing how much you need on the coldest days) can reduce your DDDC over time.
• When shopping for Atlanta Gas Light rates (i.e., supply rates), remember that two people could pay very different bills even with similar consumption, because of different DDDC or delivery area charges.
• Always look at both the supply rate and what your expected AGL pass-through will be to get a realistic estimate for total price.

Assistance Programs and Rebates

AGL itself offers fewer promotions in the sense of supplier deals (since its role is delivery), but there are a number of rebates, discounts, and programs tied to delivery or end-user usage that can affect what you pay. Here are things to look out for:

1. Senior Citizen Discount/Low-Income Programs: There is a Social Responsibility Fee in the base charges that helps support senior citizen and low-income discount programs. If you qualify, some fees may be lowered or waived.
2. Weatherization/Energy Efficiency Rebates: Some natural gas supply marketers or state/local agencies offer rebates for improving insulation, efficient heating systems, or sealing leaks, which can reduce your usage (especially in winter), thus helping lower your DDDC.
3. Promotion from Marketers: Because AGL delivery charges are fixed regardless of the marketer, the deal comes from how low the supply rate is or how favorable the fixed-rate term is. Always see if marketers include signup bonuses, discounted switching fees, or rate guarantees.
4. Georgia PSC/Utility Programs: Keep an eye on programs approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission that reduce or offset certain costs (e.g., environmental recovery fees, STRIDE infrastructure programs). These may sometimes lead to credits or adjustments in your AGL pass-through.

If you are trying to reduce the Atlanta Gas Light prices you see, the combination of choosing an efficient supplier + reducing usage + qualifying for discounts is your best strategy.

Atlanta Gas Light Service Area

Atlanta Gas Light provides natural gas delivery service (pipeline, meter, infrastructure) across much of Georgia. (You can confirm whether you’re within AGL’s service area by entering your ZIP Code on their website.) Key details about AGL’s service area include:

• Serves over 1.6 million natural gas customers—residential, commercial, industrial.
• Covers 243 municipalities/communities spread across metro and non-metro areas.
• Peaking service, which is one component of base charges, is only assessed in certain delivery areas (for example, Atlanta, Macon, Valdosta).
• Depending on your location, local fees such as franchise recovery and environmental response may vary, which in turn affects your total AGL pass-through charges and base rate.

AGL Contact Information

• Official Website
• Stop, start or transfer AGL natural gas service
• To Report a Lead and other Emergencies, Call 877-427-4321
• AGL Residential Customer Service Number: 800-427-5463

For more information about comparing natural gas rates, visit the in-depth guide to Georgia gas choice here.