Fayette governments have given local residents a little help in choosing their natural gas providers, but officials caution that a special rate negotiated with Peachtree Natural Gas should not be construed as an endorsement.

"We should be very careful as government entities in recommending anything to the public," said Fayette County Commissioner Greg Dunn as the Board of Commissioners discussed naming a "preferred" provider last week.

Commissioners agreed to buy their gas from Peachtree, making the negotiated rate of 37.5 cents per therm available to the public with no promise that it's the best rate available or recommendation that the public choose Peachtree. In addition to the negotiated rate, local residents who are customers of Coweta-Fayette Electric Membership Corp. can take advantage of joint billing for electricity and gas.

"The people still have to choose who their gas provider is going to be," said Dunn. "We're trying to use our buying power to get things down for the public," added Commissioner Herb Frady.

County administrator Billy Beckett articulated the commissioners' fear. "I think [the public] think we're going to regulate you," Beckett told representatives of Peachtree Natural Gas and Coweta-Fayette EMC during discussions last week. "We can't recommend a rate becasue we don't want to supercede the public's right to choose," he said.

The county's collaborative purchasing committee, an outgrowth of efforts to comply with a new state law requiring cooperation between counties and cities to improve efficiency and lower taxes, negotiated the special rate, and city councils in Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone had already adopted the company as preferred provider.

The Fayette Board of Education participated in the negotiations, but chose a different company, Columbia Natural Gas, to provide its own natural gas needs.

Board finance director Steve Rapson said the decision to go with a different provider was a natural one for the board, even though it was at the forefront of negotiation efforts. The board has no constituents who can take advantage of the "preferred" rate, he said. And schools will save about $91,000 a year by using the Columbia rate, he added.

It was the possibility of getting the school system's high-volume business that drove gas companies to lower their bids during the negotiation process, Rapson said, but Peachtree will have to content itself with selling what it can to the county and the cities in exchange for the low residential rate.

For the governments, the company will charge 27 cents per therm.

Some residents may want to negotiate their own deals with any of the 21 companies vying for their business, said commissioners last week. Variable rates may start out lower than the fixed rate negotiated by the committee, but they might go up. They also might go down.