Poor credit or bad credit? You still have natural gas options in Georgia: prepaid plans, no-deposit offers and the regulated provider.
A weak credit file does not leave you without natural gas in Georgia. It narrows which marketers will take you without a deposit, and it changes which plan types make sense, but there is always a route to service. Knowing the options in advance saves you from accepting the first expensive offer you are given.
A marketer buys gas wholesale and bills you after you have used it, so every customer is effectively extended credit each month. A credit check is how they price that risk. A weaker file usually means one of three outcomes: approval with a deposit, approval on a prepaid product, or decline.
Prepaid plans are the most widely used answer. You pay for gas before you use it, topping up a balance rather than receiving a bill in arrears.
Several Georgia marketers offer prepaid products — they appear in the plan type filter when you compare current rates.
If a marketer will serve you with a deposit, do the arithmetic before dismissing it. Deposits are generally refundable after a period of on-time payments, so the real cost is having the money tied up, not losing it. If the plan behind it is a good fixed rate with a low monthly service charge, a refundable deposit can beat a year on an expensive prepaid rate. Ask whether it can be paid in instalments and exactly what triggers its return.
Georgia kept a safety net when it deregulated. A designated regulated provider — a role SCANA Energy has held — serves customers who cannot qualify with a competitive marketer. Its regulated rate is set with Georgia Public Service Commission involvement rather than freely by the company, and it exists specifically so that no household is left without a supplier. See Georgia natural gas deregulation for how that fits the market.
If the underlying problem is affordability rather than credit history, assistance programs may apply — and they are easier to arrange before you fall behind. See Georgia energy assistance programs, and if you are 65 or older check senior citizen discounts.
The mistake to avoid is assuming poor credit means you must accept whatever you are offered and never look again. Deposit requirements and approval criteria vary between marketers, so a decline from one is not a decline from all. And once you have twelve months of on-time payments, your position improves — that is the moment to re-shop, recover a deposit, and move onto a competitive fixed plan.
Households with weaker credit are targeted more aggressively by door-to-door and telephone sellers. Never hand your Atlanta Gas Light account number to an unsolicited caller, and get every term in writing before agreeing. Your rights are set out in Georgia natural gas consumer protections, and the practical defences are in your consumer protections.
Filter for prepaid and no-deposit plans on the rate comparison page, or look at marketers directly: Gas South, SCANA Energy, XOOM Energy and Georgia Natural Gas.