Residential customers of Georgia Power will pay an additional $2.93 a month starting in June because of a deal between the Atlanta-based utility and the state.

The agreement, approved 3-2 by the Georgia Public Service Commission on Tuesday, allows the utility to recoup $222 million from customers to pay for the rising cost of fuel.

The increased fuel charge will be in place for 12 months.

The cost of fuel — coal, nuclear and natural gas that utilities use to produce electricity — makes up about 37 percent of Georgia Power customers' monthly bills. State law allows utilities to recover, but not profit from, the cost of fuel. Georgia Power must pass on those costs, whether they rise or fall, directly to consumers.

The increase approved Tuesday will have a higher impact on residential customer bills than originally proposed. In March , Georgia Power said rising fuel costs would cause residential customer bills to increase 2.8 percent, or $2.82 a month.

But as part of the agreement, the amount of fuel costs that large industrial customers have to pay has been reduced by 11 cents; that 11 cents was shifted to residential customers, resulting in the $2.93 increase.

"We're collecting the same amount, it's just who we're collecting it from changes," said John Sell, a Georgia Power spokesman.

The deal also delays a decision until next year on whether to establish seasonally adjusted fuel cost rates. Georgia Power already charges higher base rates for power in the summer than during the rest of the year. The proposed change would do the same with the fuel charge.

PSC member Robert Baker said he wanted Georgia Power, the PSC staff and others to complete a separate review of the seasonal-rate issue instead.

"I wasn't happy with it (the agreement) based on the compromises that had been reached between Georgia Power and the staff, and I felt that the staff should adhere more to their original recommendation," said Baker, who along with PSC member Angela Speir, voted against the deal.