Natural Gas Rates Burn Over 30% Hotter Due to Bitter January Cold
OHEnergyRatings.com is warning all residential Ohio natural gas customers that Price to Compare gas prices this February could burn up their bank accounts! Extreme cold sent natural gas commodity prices surging upwards at the end of January. As of February 1, three of the four main Ohio natural gas utilities hiked their supply rates by more than 30%.
Why Ohio Natural Gas Prices Spiked
As most homeowners know from their heating bills, their natural gas demand is highest during the cold months of January and February. This year, demand has been in sharp focus with the addition of energy needs from LNG exports and data centers. Doubtless, that reality was on natural gas utility suppliers' minds when Winter Storm Fern blew bitter cold into Ohio, sending natural gas demand for heat and power rocketing. Natural gas spot market price average at the Henry Hub shot to $9.03 per mmBTU on January 28. Prices at regional hubs in New York and New England went even higher, spiking to more than $40.
As a result, Ohio natural gas utility suppliers were keenly watching the February NYMEX natural gas contract price as it finalized on Jan. 28 at 2:30 PM. At $7.460 per mmBTU, the price was nearly twice what it was in January. The high price meant suppliers would need to drastically raise the price on the gas they sold to Ohio natural gas utilities.
And because the price to compare is a pass through, three of the four main Ohio gas utilities raised their PTC rates by more than 30% on February 1.
What Ohio Gas Utility Customers Can Do
For this reason, Ohenergyratings.com urges all Ohio residential natural gas customers to RUN, DO NOT WALK, from their local gas utility's Price to Compare service to lock in a fixed rate plan with a certified natural gas provider. For a crude estimate, PTC customers across the state might save roughly $27 per month on average for a monthly usage of 100 ccf.
However, when customers shop providers and compare gas rates apples to apples, they could find substantially cheaper rates than those offered by their local natural gas utility.
- CenterPoint Energy Ohio customers can shop 12 month plans up to 35% below the $1.0182 per ccf PTC price.
- For Columbia Gas customers, they can find fixed rates 40% less than the utility's $1.071 per ccf PTC price.
- Duke Energy Ohio natural gas customers can shop fixed rate plans that save 20% over their utility's $0.6305 per ccf PTC price.
- For Enbridge Gas Ohio (formerly Dominion Energy) customers, the utility raised its gas rate from January's $5.187 per MCF to $7.96 per MCF. This is a 53% increase and will last through March 10, 2026. However, right now, Enbridge customers can shop fixed plans that beat this current rate by as much as 53%.
By shopping for fixed rate plans now, Ohio natural gas consumers can lock in the best natural gas prices for 6 months or even longer. Not only does this help them avoid the price spike from Winter Storm Fern but also gas price spikes that may happen later this year from LNG exports and data centers.
About OHEnergyRatings.com
OhEnergyRatings.com is a website operated by Electricity Ratings, LLC.
Electricity Ratings, LLC operates a network of energy shopping websites serving 17 states and 56 utilities, providing our energy comparison and ratings service to over 80 million customers. We provide our customers with the power to choose the best providers through our consumer reviews platform which provides a reliable, unbiased source of valuable consumer insight. And we back that up by offering in-depth energy company service analysis, personalized recommendations, and practical advice. Our mission is to help consumers harness the power of information to find, compare, and buy electricity and energy services from the best providers.
Select a service type and enter your ZIP code to compare energy rates in minutes