2194 Emory Street, NW * P.O. Box 1527 * Covington, Georgia
Ronnie Johnston, Mayor
Leigh Anne Knight, City Manager
Dear City of Covington Customers,
We constantly strive to bring you reliable utilities at a fair price. We receive compliments about the dependability of
our utilities, but we occasionally hear undesirable comments about our rates. I want to take this opportunity to share
some information about how your rates are calculated and exactly what everything on your utility bill means.
Although we have implemented many efficiencies, costs to generate and deliver electricity have steadily increased
over the last 14 years. We understand we are not the cheapest electric supplier in the state of Georgia, but of the 94
electric suppliers statewide, our rates are in the lowest half of this group.
Considering the power generation contracts we are currently securing, along with our anticipated growth in Covington, we should become one of the lowest cost suppliers in Georgia over the next four years.
There are likely several charges on your bill for various utilities, but there are other charges I want to interpret for you.
The “Electric Charges” you see are calculated by multiplying your usage by the current rate. The “Electric ECCR
Charges” are Environmental Compliance Cost Recovery charges. These compensate for fuel and environmental
federal compliance fees like The Clean Water Act, The Clean Air Act and The Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act.
You may also see “Electric PCA Charges.” This Power Cost Adjustment charge is a means by which the price charged
for electricity is adjusted to correspond with the costs the City incurs to acquire fuel to generate electricity. Just the
same as the price of equity stocks, gasoline or milk can change, so can the price of fuel used to generate electricity and
the price of electricity bought from others on the commodity market. The monthly rates of all area utilities are based
upon certain expected costs at the time the rate was enacted. The difference between these costs and the actual costs at
the time the electricity is used by customers is charged by the various utilities as a PCA.
The City of Covington owns and operates its own natural gas distribution system, so you purchase your natural gas
directly from us. Marketers, such as Scana, Georgia Natural Gas or any EMC act as an agent to their customers and
purchase their gas from Atlanta Gas Light distribution system. The marketers then sell the natural gas they purchased
to their customers. Consumers purchasing natural gas from marketers pay their marketer plus the Atlanta Gas Light
distribution fee. For our customers benefit, we intend to maintain our distribution system to provide the lowest cost
possible. A simple graph illustrating the cost difference between the City of Covington and several other suppliers is
on the back of this letter.
The Water, Sewer and Solid Waste charges are easier to understand. The Water charge is the number of gallons you
consumed and the Sewer charge is the number of gallons of water you put into the sewer system times the current rate.
Solid Waste charges are the costs of picking up your refuse. The sales tax is only applied to electricity and natural gas
consumption.
Lastly, if you find yourself in a situation where you are unable to pay all or a portion of your bill, please stop by City
Hall so we can discuss payment plan options so you can continue to receive uninterrupted service. Thank you for
being a City of Covington resident and customer. If any of us here at City Hall can be of assistance, please stop by and
let us know. We would love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Leigh Anne Knight, City of Covington City Manager