Henry Hub natural gas prices
Where the national benchmark gas price stands today, how it compares with the last 10 years, how hard winter can hit, and what that means for a commercial gas budget.
What the market is telling gas buyers
Henry Hub is at $2.76, typical for the past 10 years: higher than 42% of trading days since Oct 2016. The past month is rising (+3.9%, 20-day against 60-day average) and the price is down 16% from a year ago. Day-to-day swings are normal. The bigger budget risk is winter: in 6 of the last 12 winters the highest daily price was at least 1.5 times that winter’s average, and last winter peaked at $30.72 on Jan 23, 2026.
- Prices sit in the middle of their 10-year range ($2.48 to $3.34 covers the middle half of days), so there is no strong signal from the level alone. How much of your winter volume floats matters more than timing.
- Gas priced on a daily index takes winter spikes straight onto the bill. First-of-month index and fixed-price gas are set in advance, so a cold week does not reprice them, although swing volumes above the contract quantity often do.
- Whatever the market does, check that each supply invoice uses the index and adder your contract names. Errors there are recoverable.
For month-by-month buy or wait calls on forward contracts, see our Monthly Energy Risk Report.
Price history and the moments that moved it
Daily price, Oct 27, 2025 to Oct 27, 2026. The shaded band is the middle half of daily prices over the last 10 years ($2.48 to $3.34). Numbered markers match the list below.
- Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: $13.42 monthly average, October 2005.
- 2008 commodity peak: $12.69 monthly average, June 2008.
- Shale supply glut: $1.95 monthly average, April 2012.
- Polar vortex winter: $8.15 daily, February 10, 2014.
- Pandemic demand drop: $1.63 monthly average, June 2020.
- Winter Storm Uri: $23.86 daily, February 17, 2021.
- Europe’s gas crisis pulls on U.S. LNG: $8.81 monthly average, August 2022. Read more
- Lowest monthly average since 1997: $1.49, March 2024.
- Record daily price: $30.72 daily, January 23, 2026. Read more
Where today’s price sits
42% of trading days in the last 10 years were cheaper than today.
Price level alone does not tell you whether to buy, but it tells you what you would be locking in. A price near the middle of the range is an ordinary price; one in the tails is either a bargain or a risk, depending on which side of it you are on.
Each bar counts trading days since Oct 2016 in a 25-cent price band. The middle half of days fell between $2.48 and $3.34; one day in ten was above $4.95.
This year against a normal year
Monthly averages. The band is the lowest to highest month across 2016 to 2025, and the dashed line is the typical (median) month. 2026 so far: January averaged $7.72, 2.4 times a typical January; October is running at $3.04 against a typical $2.98.
Winter is where gas budgets break
Most of the year Henry Hub moves in cents. In cold snaps it moves in dollars, because heating demand, power plants and LNG exports all pull on pipelines that are already full. The averages hide this; the peak days are what daily-indexed gas actually pays.
Bars show each winter’s average (November to March); dots show its highest single day. In a typical winter the peak day was 1.7 times the winter average. Last winter averaged $4.45 and peaked at $30.72 on Jan 23, 2026, 6.9 times its average.
Last winter on the pipelines. Columbia Gas Transmission posted critical days on 55 gas days serving Washington DC and Baltimore and Richmond, and on 34 gas days across six Ohio metros. ANR posted cold weather operating conditions on 33 gas days in the Chicago suburbs. See how much spare capacity your utility reports in our gas capacity outlooks for 48 metros.
What these prices mean for your budget
Enter your annual gas use and how much of it is priced on an index. The table shows the yearly commodity cost of that floating volume at different Henry Hub levels. Delivery charges and the fixed-price share of your gas are not included.
30,000 Dth floats with the market. Every $1.00 move in Henry Hub changes that cost by $30,000 a year.
| If Henry Hub averages | Price | Yearly cost of floating gas | Against today |
|---|
One dekatherm (Dth) equals one MMBtu. Your supply contract sets which index and adder apply; we check both on every invoice in a utility bill audit.
Every month since 2000
Each square is one month’s average price. Read across a row to see the seasons; read down to see the eras: the mid-2000s run-up, the shale years after 2009, the 2022 spike and the low prices that followed.
What moves Henry Hub, and where we track it
- Winter weather and pipeline limits
- Cold snaps push local delivery systems to their design limits, and the price follows. Our gas capacity outlooks rate 48 metros on how much spare capacity their utilities report.
- LNG exports
- Export terminals take a large and growing share of U.S. supply, which ties Henry Hub more closely to prices in Europe and Asia. Read our U.S. LNG exports outlook.
- Power demand and data centers
- Gas-fired plants set the price of electricity in many markets, so new load adds to gas burn. Our Data Center Tracking Index follows the campuses with the biggest grid and gas impact, and our PJM capacity price analysis covers the electricity side.
- The official outlook
- The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s October 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook expects Henry Hub to average $3.16 per MMBtu in 2027, 9% below its 2026 average.
- Your own bill
- Market moves explain only part of a bill. If your gas cost changed and your usage did not, start with why commercial utility bills rise with the same usage.
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price, daily and monthly (series RNGWHHD), retrieved through the EIA Open Data API.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, October 2026.
- Pipeline critical-day counts: Discovery Energy winter stress records, from pipeline operational notices for winter 2025–26.
Questions about these prices
How current are these prices?
The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes each day’s Henry Hub spot price once a week, usually on Wednesday, so the latest price here is a few days old. That is current enough for budgeting and trend decisions; physical gas is priced once a day, not continuously.
What is Henry Hub?
Henry Hub is a pipeline interconnection in Erath, Louisiana, and the delivery point for the NYMEX natural gas futures contract. Its price is the national benchmark, and most supply contracts are priced from it or from a regional index quoted against it.
How are the signals at the top calculated?
Price level compares today’s price with every trading day of the last 10 years. Past month compares the 20-day and 60-day averages; more than 3% apart counts as rising or falling. Day-to-day swings compares the average daily move of the last 20 trading days with its typical size over the last five years.
Is the spot price the same as what I pay?
No. Your supply price is usually an index plus or minus a set amount, and your utility adds delivery charges. Spot Henry Hub is the reference those prices start from, so its direction and its winter spikes show up in your costs even when the numbers differ.
How can I check whether my supplier billed the right index?
Find the pricing clause in the supply agreement, note the index and any adder, then compare the commodity rate on each invoice with the published index for that month. We do this across every account as part of a utility bill audit and recover the difference when they do not match.
Find out what your bills should have cost.
Send one recent bill per site, or a list of accounts. We tell you where we expect findings before you sign anything. No upfront audit fee.