How Will Natural Gas Prices Change In Georgia?
A fixed rate natural gas deal lets you freeze the price of your natural gas. Timing is important, though. In order to save money on natural gas, you want to fix this price when it’s at its lowest. But how do you know it’s the right time to fix natural gas prices?
When Is The Best Month To Lock In Natural Gas Rates?
The cost of natural gas changes throughout the year. Stored natural gas supplies tend to be high going into winter in order to keep prices down. However, sudden extreme cold snaps typically make winter prices more volatile, as people burn lots of gas to stay warm. A similar effect occurs during the summer, where hot temperatures usually increase the amount of natural gas power plants burn to provide electricity for air conditioning. But while winter time prices spike and fall from week to week, summertime prices usually shoot up and tend to stay higher during the entire summer. This means that natural gas prices are typically highest during winter and summer.
However, while natural gas prices rise and fall every year, they also tend to increase or decline over time. We can compare the price of natural gas to Georgia residents in order to understand whether costs are rising or falling. For example, the Infinite Energy 12 Month Natural Gas Plan cost $0.569 per therm in February 2019. Now, however, it costs $0.359. We can see a similar, if less severe, decrease in price for the XOOM Energy SureLock 12 Plan, where prices fell from $0.379 to $0.349. This pattern is replicated across many other plans, including the Constellation 12 Month Metro Home Plan.
So what does this mean for consumers? Are prices going to continue falling, or are they about to see a sharp uptick?
Natural Gas Availability In Georgia
The amount of natural gas in storage has a strong impact on the price you pay for your gas. Last year, there was a lot of anxiety in the natural gas industry. Stocks were low just before winter, and cold weather could have caused a real shortage of natural gas. Here’s a graph from the Energy Information Agency that shows the normal level of natural gas in storage, compared with the actual level.
You can see how little natural gas there actually was in storage. This is part of the reason why natural gas prices were high at this time last year; the market expected to see a shortage of natural gas. In reality, a relatively mild winter meant natural gas prices didn’t shoot up like some expected.
This is useful for us, because we can see that there’s much more natural gas in storage this year (3,000 billion cubic feet vs. 2,400). That means that prices are likely to fall, not rise, in the next few months. If you’re considering switching your natural gas provider, you may be able to get a cheaper natural gas deal if you wait a little longer.
Switch And Save On Natural Gas
Past performance is no indicator of future performance, and although it looks like natural gas will get cheaper in the next few months, anything could happen. With that in mind, we strongly recommend downloading the Georgia Gas Savings app onto your iOS or Android device. This lets you easily keep up with the best natural gas prices in Georgia. You can switch and save directly from your phone or tablet, too, so you can always get the best deals. https://www.georgiagassavings.com/apps/ga