Georgia Power Saves Money With Fixed-Price Fuel Program

PS Energy manages the fuel inventory for Georgia Power's on-site stations. "It's worked out well for us. It's one less thing for me to manage," said Truitt Eavenson, fleet manager for Georgia Power.

When prices were much lower last year, the fleet department at Georgia Power went on PS Energy's fixed-price fuel program for a 12-month period.

"I wish we had locked in for three years instead of one," said Truitt Eavenson, who oversees a fleet of about 4,700 vehicles as manager of fleet operations for Georgia Power in Atlanta. Since then, fuel prices have risen dramatically. "You can imagine what that program saved us," he said.

The fixed-price program offers fleets an option of paying one fixed price for a certain number of gallons of fuel over a certain period of time. This enables the company to project its fuel costs for the coming year.

Since its 12-month period on the fixed-price program ended, Georgia Power has signed on to the program again, for another six months. The six-month program is for a percentage of Georgia Power's fuel that is used in its on-site fueling facilities that are located at some of its 60 headquarters buildings throughout Georgia, and also for all of its retail fueling. Eavenson said Georgia Power went on the program for the winter period, reasoning that when the price of heating oil goes up, so does the price of fuel. The federal government's recent decision to tap into its fuel reserves also factored into the decision, Eavenson said.

"We rely on PS Energy to help us make those decisions," Eavenson said. "We work closely with them to watch the market to save on fuel costs."

Program Helps with Fueling During Emergencies

Georgia Power also uses PS Energy's Emergency Fueling Program, which is designed for utility companies and disaster response organizations and provides relief options when conventional fueling is difficult or unavailable. The program recruits and manages the logistics of manpower, equipment and fuel for utilities to minimize the effects of floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other crises.

During Hurricane Floyd last year, the entire city of Savannah, GA, was evacuated. Georgia Power is a sister company to Savannah Power, and other companies such as Duke Power and Carolina Power and Light asked Georgia Power for assistance.

"All of the gas stations ran out of fuel," Eavenson said.

Georgia Power used a shopping center parking lot as a "staging center" to park its trucks, and PS Energy brought a fueling truck to the location at night, so the Georgia Power vehicles were ready to go in the morning. PS Energy provided the same service to Georgia Power about two years ago when a tornado hit the Atlanta area.

PS Energy Manages Fuel Inventory for Georgia Power

PS Energy administers the Wright Express fuel card program for Georgia Power. The program is for on-site facilities and off-site at retail locations that accept the Wright Express card. The fuel tanks at the on-site facilities are owned by Georgia Power and managed by PS Energy, which decides when to deliver more fuel to keep the tanks full.