Why the Advertised Gas Rate Is Not the Filed Rate in Georgia
In September 2026 we checked what Georgia gas marketers were advertising against what the same marketers had filed with the Public Service Commission that month. The advertised numbers were frequently lower.
That is not a scandal. It is worth understanding anyway, because the gap between the two is where most bad surprises in this market live.
Two different numbers, both real
The filed rate is what a marketer lodges with the PSC each month. It is public, dated, applies to everyone, and is the number we rank on.
The advertised rate is what a marketer promotes: on its own site, in a Meta ad, in a Google ad. It can be lower. It often carries a promo code, an expiry, and conditions about who qualifies.
Both can be genuine at the same time. Promotional pricing is ordinary commerce and the filing rule is a disclosure requirement, not a price cap. The problem is not that marketers advertise below their filed rate. It is that an advertised rate is a moving target and the conditions are rarely in the headline.
Why we rank on the filed rate
Three reasons, and they are the same reasons any honest comparison would have to.
It is verifiable. Every filed rate traces to a dated PDF on the Commission’s own site. An ad that ran last Tuesday to a particular audience does not.
Everyone is measured the same way. Marketers advertise at different intensities in different months. Ranking on promotions would rank marketing budgets, not prices, and would reshuffle the table every time a campaign started or stopped.
It does not expire while you read it. A filed rate holds for the month. A promotion can end the day you find it.
So advertised offers never affect any ranking on this site. Where we have captured one with dated evidence, it sits beside the filed rate as context, clearly labelled, and that is all.
What to ask before you trust one
If you find an advertised rate better than the filed rate, it may well be worth having. Get these answers first, and get them before you enroll rather than after.
- Does it apply to me? Most promotions are for new residential accounts in Atlanta Gas Light territory. If you are an existing customer, or outside AGL’s system, the answer is often no.
- What is the term, and what happens at the end? A promotional rate that rolls to an uncapped variable rate is the most common way this goes wrong.
- What is the monthly service charge? A headline rate with a higher service charge attached can cost more across a year than the filed plan you were comparing it to.
- Is there a code, and does it still work? Promo codes expire quietly.
- What is the early termination fee? Promotional plans carry them too.
- Will they confirm it in writing? If the rate is real, this is not an awkward request.
The practical approach
Use the filed comparison to find out who is genuinely competitive on annual cost, because that is the level playing field. Then, when you call your shortlist, ask whether they have a better offer than their filed rate. Frequently they do.
What you should not do is choose a marketer because it is advertising loudly. The loudest advertiser in this market is not reliably the cheapest, and the filed charts are right there to check it against.
How we handle this
Our rankings use PSC filings only. Separately, we capture advertised offers with dated evidence, including the conditions as written, and publish only those a reader could actually claim. Each captured offer keeps a page recording what the ad said and linking public copies of it.
We do this because the gap between advertised and filed is real information about a market, not because an advertised rate belongs in a ranking. It does not, and it will not appear in one here.
The Georgia Public Service Commission does not rank or endorse marketers.
Common questions
- Is it legal to advertise a rate below the PSC-filed rate?
- Yes. The filing requirement is about disclosure of a marketer's standard offer, not a price cap. Promotional pricing, sign-up codes and limited-time offers are ordinary marketing and can be entirely genuine. The filed rate is the one on public record; the advertised one is what you may be offered.
- Why does the comparison table show the filed rate rather than the advertised one?
- Because the filed rate is verifiable and dated, and everyone is measured by the same standard. Advertised offers appear and vanish, vary by channel and audience, and often attach conditions. Ranking on them would mean ranking on whoever was running the loudest campaign that week.
- How do I claim an advertised rate?
- Have the offer in front of you when you call, including any promo code and the exact wording of its conditions. Ask whether it applies to your address and account type, what happens when it ends, and whether the service charge and term match the standard plan. Get the answer before you enroll.
- Do advertised rates affect the rankings on this site?
- No, never. Rankings use PSC-filed rates only. Where we have captured a current advertised offer with dated evidence, it is shown as context beside the filed rate, never in place of it and never as a ranking input.
More guides
- How to switch marketer: What switching gas marketer in Georgia actually involves: the 19th-of-the-month deadline, what it costs to leave a contract early, and what does not change at your house.
- How to read your bill: Your Georgia gas bill has two halves, one you chose and one you did not. What each charge is, which ones switching can change, and why half the bill is the same for everyone.
- Pool groups and availability: Atlanta Gas Light's system is split into nine geographic pool groups, and marketers restrict some of their best plans to the Atlanta ones. Here is how to tell whether a rate is open to you.