By JOHN THOMPSON
Business Editor

With winter's chill just around the corner, many residents are gathering firewood and breaking out the sweaters to ward off the chill.

Another key component of staying warm this winter and many natural gas consumers are hoping the transition from Peachtree Natural Gas to Shell Energy goes smoothly, so they won't have the need for more firewood and heavier sweaters.

Last week, Coweta-Fayette EMC president Michael Whiteside sent a letter to the company's nearly 20,000 gas customers informing them of the switch in marketers to Shell Energy.

The switch occurred after Peachtree Natural Gas declared bankruptcy Oct.26 and Shell purchased Peachtree's 171,000 customers for more than $19 million.

Peachtree Natural Gas was the marketer of choice for many municipalities and companies, such as EMC,Peachtree City, Coweta County and the Coweta County Board of Education.

In his letter to his customers, Whiteside said the customers will receive a start bill from Shell within 30 days, but will still have e option of switching to another marketer without having to pay a $7.50 switch fee.

Since Peachtree Natural Gas went bankrupt in October, EMC officials have been trying to find another marketer to list as a preferred provider, but have not been able to do so yet, said Whiteside.

Despite not be able to provide another marketer, Whiteside said he was happy to have been able to provide discounts to his customers during the past nine months and providing free gas during the summer.

If you want to use Shell Energy as your provider, you won't have to do anything. Shell Energy will send you a welcoming lit in the next few days.

Customers who want to switch can choose among 12 marketers. The Georgia Public Service Commission maintains a monthly update of the marketers and how many complaints they receive.

The following is a list of the certified providers and how many complaints each company received per 10,000 customers:

•GasKey-45.14, 404-321-5711.

•e prime, Inc.-20.28, 1-800-229-4277.

•Shell Energy Service-16.14, 1-888-350-7435.

•Energy America-15.75, 1-888-305-3828.

•Southeastern States Energy-13.13, 1-877-477-3674.

•United Gas Management of Georgia-12.06, 1-888-427-4872.

•Infinite Energy, Inc.-5.67, 770-394-3357.

•Columbia Energy Services Corporation-5.26, 1-888-224-6622.

•Reliant Energy Retail-4.36, 1-800-826-7401.

•Georgia Natural Gas Services, Inc.-3.64, 1-888-878-3250.

•ACN Energy, Inc.-3.12, 1-877-226-3049.

•SCANA Energy Marketing, Inc.-2.77, 1-877-467-2202.

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