Southern Company Gas distribution operations feature four utilities that deliver natural gas to approximately 4.5 million customers and is the largest component of the business. As of February 2014, the distribution operations consist of
Nicor Gas in
Illinois,
Atlanta Gas Light in
Georgia, Virginia Natural Gas in
Virginia and Chattanooga Gas in
Tennessee. The utilities construct, manage and maintain intrastate natural gas pipelines, distribution facilities and storage facilities. They also respond to and repair gas leaks and other requests for service and are responsible for meter reading. Most of their customers buy their natural gas directly from the Southern Company Gas utilities. However some customers in Illinois and all of the customers in Georgia buy natural gas from their choice of retail marketers due to deregulation in these states. Each subsidiary provides these primary services: • Maintains the gas pipeline infrastructure • Responds to and repairs gas leaks • Sells natural gas service to residential, commercial and industrial customers; excluding Atlanta Gas Light • Offers customer service and bills customers for gas service; excluding Atlanta Gas Light • Offers online customer information about natural gas and natural gas-fueled products
Atlanta Gas Light Atlanta Gas Light, is the largest natural gas distributor in the Southeast and is
headquartered in
Atlanta. It was founded in 1856 to install gas streetlights in Atlanta. The company now distributes natural gas to more than 1.6 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in 200 communities throughout the state of
Georgia. Additional services include: • Maintenance of the gas system infrastructure, including response to gas leaks • Meter reading
Chattanooga Gas Chattanooga Gas provides retail natural gas sales and transportation services to approximately 62,000 customers in
Hamilton and
Bradley counties in Tennessee. It was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1988, Atlanta Gas Light acquired Chattanooga Gas Company.
Nicor Gas Nicor Gas was founded in 1955 and it is the largest natural gas distributor in northern Illinois, serving 2.2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in more than 650 communities. Nicor Gas customers are connected to a 34,000 mile distribution system that is part of a network of eight interstate pipelines. AGL Resources acquired Nicor Inc. in merger, which was completed in December 2011.
Virginia Natural Gas Virginia Natural Gas was founded in 1850 and provides natural gas service to more than 275,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in southeastern Virginia. It serves the communities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, and Hanover Counties. The company continues to be one of the fastest-growing natural gas distribution companies in the country. Additional services include: • Operating a high-pressure intrastate pipeline originating in Quantico and terminating in Williamsburg, Virginia • Operating two propane storage and vaporization facilities and a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility located in James City County and Chesapeake to supplement natural gas supplies as needed Formerly the natural gas operations of
Dominion Virginia Power, VNG was sold to Consolidated Natural Gas in 1990. When CNG was acquired by Dominion in 2000, VNG was sold to AGL Resources. ==Wholesale services==