PSC offers natural gas rate comparison chart
As posted on June 10, 2008 on www.ajc.com
The Georgia Public Service Commission has help for those confused by the competing rates among natural gas marketers.
The PSC publishes a rate analysis on its Web site that tells what different gas marketers' rate plans really cost. Go to www.psc.state.ga.us and click on the link to "Natural Gas Marketer's Prices."
The chart includes an "apples-to-apples" rate comparison, which is an acknowledgment that marketers' per therm costs don't tell the whole story. It includes all costs, even monthly service charges.
Some marketers fold extra fees into their per therm costs; some don't, making them look cheaper than they are. Depending on those fees, a consumer looking only at a low per therm rate might end up paying more than one who chose a marketer with a higher per therm rate.
The apples-to-apples prices can differ sharply from the prices touted by marketers as they push to lock in long-term customers. The price comparison also can change depending on whether a customer is looking at this month or the prices he or she can expect to pay over the typical yearlong fixed contract the marketers are peddling.
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