Natural Gas Rates in Alberta, Explained

Short answer: Alberta natural gas is priced in dollars per gigajoule (GJ), not per cubic metre. The Alberta natural gas reference price ranged from $1.16/GJ in May 2026 to $2.46/GJ in January 2026, and prices are usually lowest in summer. As of August 20, 2026, Get Energy’s fixed gas rate is $3.77/GJ and our variable rate averaged $2.84/GJ over the last 30 days.

Energy rates on this page come from our live rate sheet. Reference prices are published monthly by the Government of Alberta. Last updated August 20, 2026.

How natural gas is priced in Alberta

Your gas meter measures volume in cubic metres (m³), but the energy line of your bill is billed in gigajoules. The utility converts your metered volume to energy using a heating value factor for your area, because a cubic metre of gas does not carry exactly the same energy everywhere or in every season. As a rough working number, a gigajoule is a little more than 26 cubic metres of Alberta pipeline gas. The conversion is done for you and shown on the bill, so when you shop rates you only need the $/GJ number.

Every competitive gas rate in Alberta is quoted the same way, which makes comparison shopping simpler than it is on the electricity side. What is not simple is comparing the rest of the bill, which is where most of the real differences between retailers hide.

The Alberta natural gas reference price

The Government of Alberta publishes a monthly reference price, a representative market price for gas bought and sold inside the province. It is the benchmark most people use to sanity-check whether a retail offer is reasonable. Here is 2026 so far:

Month (2026) Reference price ($/GJ)
January 2.46
February 1.95
March 1.69
April 1.28
May 1.16
June 1.37

For context, the 2025 reference price ranged from $0.50/GJ in September to $2.71/GJ in December. That is more than a fivefold swing inside a single year, and it is the normal condition of this market rather than an unusual one.

The seasonal pattern is straightforward. Alberta heats with gas, so demand collapses in the summer while production keeps running. Storage fills, pipelines are uncongested, and the price falls. Come November the same supply meets furnace load across the Prairies and the price climbs. Summer is cheap because nobody needs the gas; winter is expensive because everybody does at the same time.

Wholesale gas in Alberta trades at the AECO hub, also called NIT (NOVA Inventory Transfer), which is the pricing point on the NGTL system inside the province. AECO is the reference nearly every Alberta retail contract is ultimately built on, and because Alberta sits at the upstream end of the continental pipeline network, AECO usually trades at a discount to Henry Hub in the United States. When export or LNG demand tightens, that discount narrows and Alberta prices follow.

Fixed vs variable gas rates

A variable gas rate floats with the market each month, usually set from a rolling average of the wholesale price. A fixed rate locks a $/GJ number for the term.

Get Energy gas rate Rate (August 20, 2026) What it means
Variable (discount) $2.84/GJ — 30-day average, calculated August 14, 2026 Tracks the market. Cheapest right now, moves with winter.
13-month variable average $2.96/GJ What variable actually cost over a full heating cycle.
Fixed $3.77/GJ (Advantage) Locked for the term. Certainty, at a premium.

You will notice the fixed rate sits above both the current reference price and our own variable average. That premium is not markup for its own sake. A retailer selling a fixed price has to buy that gas forward, and forward gas for the winter months always costs more than gas for August. The premium is the cost of someone else carrying the risk of a cold February.

Honest guidance: over the last several years, variable has usually been the cheaper choice in Alberta. It has also produced some ugly months. If a $300 gas bill in January would genuinely strain your budget, fixed is worth the premium for the predictability. If you can average out a bad month, variable has been the better bet. The same trade-off logic applies on the power side, which we walk through in fixed vs variable electricity rates in Alberta.

Everything else on your gas bill

The commodity rate is often less than half of what you pay. The rest is:

  • Delivery and distribution — charged by your gas utility, which is either ATCO Gas or Apex Utilities depending on your address, or a rural gas co-op in some areas. You cannot choose this company and the rates are the same no matter which retailer bills you.
  • A fixed daily or monthly delivery charge — payable even in July when you burn almost nothing.
  • A retailer administration fee — ours is $9.97 per month covering the account, not each commodity. Fees vary widely between retailers and are the most commonly overlooked line when people compare offers. See admin fees on Alberta energy bills.
  • A transaction fee on energy — $0.50/GJ on gas in our Advantage structure.
  • Municipal franchise fees, riders and GST.
  • Carbon charges — the federal consumer fuel charge that used to appear on Alberta residential gas bills was set to zero in the spring of 2025 and no longer applies to household natural gas. Alberta’s industrial carbon pricing system still applies to large emitters, which can indirectly affect wholesale costs. Because this changed recently, check your own most recent bill rather than trusting any general statement, including this one.

Estimating your own annual gas cost

Do this from your own bills rather than from a provincial average, because Alberta gas use varies enormously with house age, size and whether you have a gas fireplace, water heater, garage heater or pool.

  • Pull twelve consecutive bills and add up the GJ consumed. That is your annual gas use.
  • Multiply by the $/GJ rate you are comparing. At $2.84/GJ, 100 GJ of annual use is $284 in commodity; at $3.77/GJ it is $377.
  • Add the transaction fee: 100 GJ × $0.50 = $50.
  • Add twelve months of administration fee and your delivery charges, which you can read straight off the same bills.

Your consumption will be heavily winter-weighted. It is common for a single January to use more gas than May through September combined, so do not extrapolate an annual figure from a summer bill. If you want the whole-house picture including electricity, we put the numbers together in what it costs to run a house in Alberta.

Where Get Energy fits

Our current residential gas rates are the $3.77/GJ fixed and $2.84/GJ variable shown above, with the $9.97 monthly administration fee and $0.50/GJ transaction fee. You can see the live numbers, updated daily, on our rate sheet, and the sign-up process is described on how switching works. Switching gas retailers does not touch your service, your meter or your utility — ATCO Gas or Apex still delivers the gas and still fixes the line if something goes wrong.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Alberta natural gas priced per gigajoule instead of per cubic metre?

Because a gigajoule measures energy, and the energy content of a cubic metre of gas varies slightly by location and season. Your meter records volume in cubic metres and the utility converts it to gigajoules using a heating value factor shown on your bill. Retail rates are quoted in dollars per gigajoule so that offers can be compared directly.

What is the Alberta natural gas reference price right now?

The Government of Alberta reference price in 2026 ran $2.46/GJ in January, $1.95 in February, $1.69 in March, $1.28 in April, $1.16 in May and $1.37 in June. In 2025 it ranged from $0.50/GJ in September to $2.71/GJ in December.

Why are natural gas rates cheaper in the summer?

Alberta heats with natural gas, so summer demand is a fraction of winter demand while production continues and storage fills. Prices fall accordingly. They rise again in late autumn when heating load returns across the Prairies at the same time.

Should I choose a fixed or variable natural gas rate?

It depends on your tolerance for a bad winter month. Variable has usually been cheaper in Alberta over recent years but moves with the market. Fixed costs a premium because the retailer has to buy winter gas forward, and it buys you a predictable bill. If a spike in January would strain your budget, take fixed.

Is there still a carbon charge on Alberta natural gas bills?

The federal consumer fuel charge on residential natural gas was set to zero in the spring of 2025 and no longer appears as a charge on household bills. Alberta’s industrial carbon pricing system still applies to large emitters. Check the line items on your own most recent bill to confirm what you are being charged.

Does switching gas retailers change who delivers my gas?

No. ATCO Gas or Apex Utilities delivers gas based on your address, and that does not change when you switch retailers. Delivery charges are the same regardless of who bills you. Only the commodity rate and the retailer’s own fees change.

Sources

Get Energy is a competitive retailer offering electricity and natural gas services for residential, small business, and farm consumers across Alberta. Get Energy is a tradename of Utility Network & Partners Inc.