Covington has made history, becoming the first city in Georgia to open a publicly-available compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling facility.

The city’s CNG fueling facility off City Pond Road is built and ready to go.

Rahim Charania, CEO of American Fueling Systems – the company that built the station – said Covington was the first city in Georgia to build a publicly-available fueling station and said it will be a model for the rest of the state.

Charania said the project was built under its $1.6 million budget, ahead of schedule and is able to pump at a speed 9 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) of CNG per minute, which is more than double the originally planned 4 GGEs. The station has four pumps.

The Covington City Council previously set prices for the station. Covington utility customers will pay $1.85 per gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) of CNG, while large-volume customers (those who will buy CNG in bulk, including the city) will pay $1.95 per GGE; all other customers will pay $2.34 per GGE, which Conner said is in the same range as other stations in the region.

Charania congratulated the council and said his company is busy giving tours of the newly completed facility.

A grand opening will be held at a later date.