Natural gas generates about 42 percent of all US electricity, the highest share on record. In many wholesale markets it also sets the marginal price, so when gas gets expensive, the power bill follows.
Gas has been swinging. Henry Hub averaged $2.19 per million British thermal units in 2024, an all-time low. In 2025 it rose to $3.10, up 41 percent. The Energy Information Administration projects it will climb toward $4.00 in 2026. Storage is 24.9 percent lower than a year earlier.
Wholesale electricity has moved with it. Day-ahead prices at most major trading hubs were higher in 2025 than in 2024, driven mainly by gas, and wholesale prices have risen roughly 40 percent since the start of 2025.
Coal is leaving the picture too. Utilities planned to retire 8.1 gigawatts of coal capacity in 2025, 4.7 percent of the US coal fleet. Each plant that shuts shifts more demand onto gas.
What households pay
The average American household pays about 18.05 cents per kilowatt-hour, 43 percent more than 11 years ago. Rates rose 9.6 percent in 2022 alone, and they have outpaced inflation every year since. Fuel is only one cause. Aging transmission lines, extreme weather, data center demand and utility profit rules all push in the same direction.
A hearing in Raleigh
Exports are part of the argument. US liquefied natural gas exports rose 23 percent in the first half of 2026 against the same period a year earlier, averaging 17.4 billion cubic feet a day, according to the EIA. At a Raleigh forum on electricity affordability, Rep. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., asked whether more exports could raise prices at home. “Be smart about whether we’re exporting things when it’s going to raise the fuel prices here,” she said.
Growing overseas demand can push domestic prices up, though production, weather and other conditions matter too. The available data does not show how much exports have affected North Carolina bills.
Utilities can pass higher fuel costs to customers through adjustments separate from general rate increases, and those charges fall when fuel gets cheaper. North Carolina’s electric cooperatives, which serve about 2.8 million residents, say they buy contracts and hedge future purchases to limit swings. “We try to use our collective buying power,” said Sharla Wells, who represents them.
Sources
- Why Your Electricity Bill Keeps Going Up
- As NC electric bills rise, lawmakers weigh coal, natural gas exports and power plant costs
