Ga. Power Payment Center in Toccoa To Close in Oct.

Georgia Power said it will close its business office in Toccoa this Fall.

According to a statement from the company, starting in mid-October, Georgia Power will operate 27 business offices across the state with 2 to 3 business offices in each region.

These 27 offices are the busiest in the state with the majority handling more than 100,000 customer transactions per year.

In northeast Georgia, those offices will be Athens and Gainesville.

Georgia Power Spokesman John Kraft said these changes are in response to changing trends with customer payments across the state.

“One of the changes we have noticed over the past decade is that payment transactions have shifted from our traditional business offices and postal mail to electronic payments,” said Kraft. “They currently account for 50 percent of all payments.”

For those payments, Georgia Power has its 24-hour Customer Service line, a smartphone app, and online options at www.georgiapower.com.

But for those who want to or need to pay in person, Kraft said Georgia Power has plans to expand its network of Authorized Payment Locations across Georgia.

“We already have about 2,700 of those across the state,” said Kraft. “These are places that customers are likely shopping at already, such as grocery stores or pharmacies, places like that, where you can go to the customer service counter and pay your Georgia Power bill and have it instantly credited on your Georgia Power account. Currently, we have 2,700 of those and we are looking to expand that to about 5,300 locations by the end of the year.”

While the Toccoa payment center and business office will close, Kraft says a presence will remain at the Toccoa office.

“If it is an operations center where trucks operate out of, lineman dispatch from, those will still be in place,” said Kraft.

The Toccoa business office is not the only one closing.

Georgia Power says the business office in Cornelia is also closing in mid-October.

Kraft says Georgia Power has been a part of these communities for many years and expects to continue to be a part of the communities moving forward.