2020 Georgia Code
Title 46 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation
Chapter 4 - Distribution, Storage, and Sale of Gas
Article 5 - Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation
§ 46-4-151. Legislative Findings and Intent; Bill of Rights for Consumers

1. The General Assembly finds:
   1. It is in the public interest to establish a new regulatory model for the natural gas industry in Georgia to reflect the transition to a reliance on market based competition as the best mechanism for the selection and provision of natural gas services at the most efficient pricing;
   2. In order to ensure the implementation of this new reliance on market based competition, any regulatory impediments, whether statutory or administrative, to competition for natural gas services must be removed in those areas of the natural gas industry where competition actually exists;
   3. All consumers deserve to receive natural gas service on reasonable terms and at reasonable prices; and
   4. That protecting natural gas consumers in this new reliance on market based competition is the most important factor to consider in any decisions to be made in accordance with this article.
2. It is the intent of this article to:
   1. Promote competition in the natural gas industry;
   2. Protect the consumer during and after the transition to a competitive natural gas market;
   3. Maintain and encourage safe and reliable natural gas service;
   4. Deregulate those components of the natural gas industry subject to actual competition;
   5. Continue to regulate those natural gas services subject to monopoly power;
   6. Promote an orderly and expeditious transition of the natural gas industry toward fully developed competition;
   7. Provide for rate-making methods which the General Assembly finds appropriate for the provision of natural gas services, including without limitation the use of straight fixed variable rate design, the recovery of certain stranded costs, and the use of alternative forms of rate regulation;
   8. Allow gas companies the opportunity to compete effectively in a competitive marketplace;
   9. Provide a bill of rights for consumers as follows:
      1. All consumers must have access to reliable, safe, and affordable gas service, including high quality customer service;
      2. All consumers must have the right to receive accurate, easily understood information about gas marketers, services, plans, terms and conditions, and rights and remedies. The information must be unbiased, accurate, and understandable in a written form, which allows for comparison of prices and terms of service;
      3. All consumers must receive the benefits of new services, technological advances, improved efficiency, and competitive prices;
      4. Standards for protecting consumers in matters such as deposit and credit requirements, service denials and terminations, and deferred payment provisions must be applied fairly to all consumers;
      5. All consumers must be protected from unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, and anticompetitive practices, including, but not limited to, practices such as cramming, slamming, and providing deceptive information regarding billing terms and conditions of service;
      6. All consumers shall receive accurate and timely bills from their marketers;
      7. All consumers are entitled to protection of their privacy and must be protected from improper use of their customer records or payment histories without their express consent;
      8. All consumers must be protected from price increases resulting from inequitable price shifting; and
      9. All consumers have the right to a fair and efficient process for resolving differences with marketers, including a system of internal review and an independent system of external review; and
   10. Provide that, in the event of any conflict between paragraph (9) of this subsection and any other paragraph of this subsection, the provisions of paragraph (9) shall override such other paragraph or paragraphs.

(Code 1981, §46-4-151, enacted by Ga. L. 1997, p. 798, § 4; Ga. L. 2002, p. 475, § 6.)

The 2002 amendment, effective April 25, 2002, in subsection (a), deleted "and" at the end of paragraph (a)(1), substituted a semicolon for a period at the end of paragraph (a)(2), and added paragraphs (a)(3) and (a)(4); in subsection (b), deleted "and" at the end of paragraph (b)(7), substituted a semicolon for a period at the end of paragraph (b)(8), and added paragraphs (b)(9) and (b)(10).

- Ga. L. 2002, p. 475, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'Natural Gas Consumers' Relief Act.'"

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Voluntary payment doctrine not a defense.

- Trial court erred in dismissing natural gas customers' class action alleging that a provider intentionally and deceptively overcharged the customers based on the voluntary payment doctrine. O.C.G.A. § 46-4-160.5, which specifically authorized a private right of action for damages for the customers, prevailed over O.C.G.A. § 13-1-13, the general statute setting forth the voluntary payment doctrine. Southstar Energy Servs., LLC v. Ellison, 286 Ga. 709, 691 S.E.2d 203 (2010).

- Application of the true up process to the shortfall caused by the bankruptcy of a natural gas limited liability company (LLC) did not violate the takings clauses of U.S. Const., amend. V or Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. III, Para. I because after the true up process had operated as intended, and after the fact, a marketer sought to obtain from the government amounts representing the marketer's commercial losses on gas delivered to the LLC's customers, and that was merely a "consequential" loss to the marketer. MXenergy Inc. v. Ga. PSC, 310 Ga. App. 630, 714 S.E.2d 132 (2011).

- Some evidence supported the superior court's conclusion that the Georgia Public Service Commission's decision to allocate a portion of the universal service fund to the shortfall of a natural gas limited liability company (LLC) was a regulatory business issue and a question of regulatory policy because evidence was presented that, in the context of its duty to protect natural gas consumers under the Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act, O.C.G.A. § 46-4-151(a)(4), the Commission intended to moderate the increase in costs resulting from the LLC's inability to supply its customers, to encourage marketers to "be diligent" in addressing business risks, and to prevent the affected marketers from passing on to their customers all the costs of making up the LLC's shortfall. MXenergy Inc. v. Ga. PSC, 310 Ga. App. 630, 714 S.E.2d 132 (2011).

- Georgia Public Service Commission was authorized to dismiss natural gas company's application for certification because creation of natural gas company as Limited Liability Company (LLC) wholly owned by city's utility board was in derogation of city charter as charter required utility board to create wholly owned subsidiary in form of non-profit corporation rather than LLC; thus, city's creation of LLC was an ultra vires act. Infinite Energy v. Marietta Natural Gas, 349 Ga. App. 343, 826 S.E.2d 189 (2019).

Cited in Ellison v. Southstar Energy Servs., LLC, 298 Ga. App. 170, 679 S.E.2d 750 (2009).