Natural gas just logged a sharp jump in price, and the timing isn't great for anyone staring down a deep freeze, NBC News reports. Prices spiked roughly 25% on Tuesday as a sprawling winter storm threatens to blanket about half the US in bitter cold, ice, and heavy snow starting Friday and stretching into next week, per the National Weather Service. Houses are heated using natural gas. Tuesday's surge marked one of the biggest daily jumps for natural gas in years, the Wall Street Journal reports. MarketWatch reports this could be the toughest test for heating oil and natural gas markets in the Northeast in a decade.
That surge hits as households are already straining under high heating costs. An oil analyst warns the coming cold snap will show up quickly in mailboxes: "The severe cold will manifest itself in very expensive natural gas bills arriving in February," Tom Kloza wrote in an email. One recent estimate from the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association put the average home's heating tab near $1,000 for the mid-November-through-March season.
The squeeze comes on top of elevated costs for housing and groceries and a soft labor market. It also undercuts political promises: President Trump pledged during his campaign to cut energy and electricity costs in half. Federal forecasters don't see a simple path to relief, either. The US Energy Information Administration projects natural gas prices will ease in 2026 but climb again in 2027 as demand—from liquefied natural gas exports and the power sector—outpaces production.
Businesses are hardly insulated from the spike. As natural gas becomes more costly or harder to secure, some commercial users may pivot to other fuels. That shift has ripple effects, Kloza noted, warning that "soaring natural gas prices and a lack of availability can have pretty drastic impacts on diesel, heating oil, kerosene, and other liquid fuels" as well.
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