State utility regulators approved Atlanta Gas Light’s plan to replace 756 miles of decades-old plastic pipe.
Customer bills will go up to cover the $275 million project, starting with a 48-cent surcharge this fall, with similar amounts added to that in 2015 and 2016.
Atlanta Gas Light will replace so-called vintage plastic pipe, used for medium-and low-natural gas pressures. Some of the pipe runs to neighborhoods and small commercial areas as well as to individual homes.
AGL has about 3,320 miles of the pipe across its 33,000-mile system. The company wants to replace the plastic pipe that was installed before 1974 after determining that it could degrade prematurely in certain conditions.
The pipe can become brittle and break if disturbed, leading to a leak, AGL said. But no incidents of injury or property damage have been reported, the company said.
“We find Georgia so far ahead of the curve in our pipeline replacement and safety program,” state utility regulator Bubba McDonald said. The Public Service Commission approved the project at its meeting Tuesday.
After this fall’s 48 cent surcharge, another 48 cent fee will kick in January 2015. An additional .49-cent surcharge will start in 2016 and last through 2025.
The charges are spread out to lessen impact on customer bills and prevent current customers from shouldering all costs - a deal struck between AGL and the Georgia Public Service Commission staff.
“The impact of dragging it out a little bit is appropriate,” PSC member Stan Wise said.
Atlanta Gas Light consumers have been paying the company $3.13 a month to replace old cast iron and bare steel pipe. AGL started replacing this pipe in 1998 after a PSC investigation documented more than 20,000 leaks in Atlanta and the northern suburbs over a two-year period. The company will finish replacing those pipes at the end of this year.
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