Week in one line: Alberta’s wholesale power price averaged $56.03/MWh for August 17–23 against $34.37/MWh the week before — a 63% jump driven almost entirely by a single tight evening on Saturday August 22, when the pool price touched $958.27/MWh. Retail rates are unchanged. Natural gas remains historically cheap.
Reporting week: August 17–23, 2026. Published August 24, 2026. Wholesale data from AESO; gas reference pricing from the Government of Alberta; retail rates from Get Energy’s live rate sheet.
Wholesale power: the week in numbers
| Metric | Aug 17–23 | Aug 10–16 | Change |
| Average pool price | $56.03/MWh | $34.37/MWh | +63% |
| Median hour | $30.08/MWh | $26.33/MWh | +14% |
| Highest hour | $958.27/MWh (Aug 22, HE20) | $116.23/MWh (Aug 12, HE13) | — |
| Lowest hour | $0.00/MWh | $11.84/MWh | — |
| Hours above $100/MWh | 18 | 3 | +15 |
| Hours at or near zero | 6 | 0 | +6 |
| Average Alberta internal load | 10,441 MW | 10,024 MW | +417 MW |
| Peak load | 11,616 MW | 11,065 MW | +551 MW |
The 30-day rolling average for the period ending August 23 sits at $34.65/MWh — barely moved from $33.59/MWh a week earlier, which tells you most of what you need to know about how concentrated this week’s move was.
What actually happened
The weekly average rose 63%, but the median hour rose only 14%. That gap is the whole story. A handful of extreme hours dragged the mean up while the typical hour barely moved.
Daily averages: $45.67 Monday, $50.75 Tuesday, $66.70 Wednesday, $45.80 Thursday, $66.65 Friday, then $99.93 on Saturday August 22 and $16.71 on Sunday the 23rd. Saturday carried the week. The pool price settled at $958.27/MWh in hour ending 20 — the evening ramp, after solar output falls away and before overnight demand drops. Eighteen hours cleared $100/MWh over the week, against three the week before.
The floor moved too, in the opposite direction. Six hours settled at or near zero, after a full week with none. Alberta printed a $958 hour and a $0 hour in the same seven days. That is what a grid with a large intermittent fleet and a thin supply cushion looks like: when wind runs, the price collapses; when it does not and the evening peak lands, the price finds the top of the range in a hurry.
Load supports the reading. Average internal load rose about 400 MW week over week and peak load hit 11,616 MW, consistent with warm afternoons. But demand of that size is unremarkable for August. Supply availability in the evening hours, not demand, set the week’s high prices.
Natural gas
The Government of Alberta’s natural gas reference price has run $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 — the most recent month published. That is a soft first half by any historical standard and well below the $2.71/GJ that closed out 2025.
Alberta gas is still in the seasonal window where storage injection is the main source of demand and heating load is effectively nil. Cheap gas also caps power prices in most hours, since gas-fired units set the marginal price the majority of the time. The question for households remains what the winter strip looks like when heating demand returns, not what August prints.
Where retail rates sit
| Product | Rate (Aug 24, 2026) | Week over week |
| Electricity — variable (30-day avg) | 5.31¢/kWh | Unchanged |
| Electricity — 1-year fixed | 6.57¢/kWh | Unchanged |
| Electricity — 2-year fixed | 7.97¢/kWh | Unchanged |
| Electricity — 3-year fixed | 8.87¢/kWh | Unchanged |
| Natural gas — variable (30-day avg) | $2.84/GJ | Unchanged |
| Natural gas — 1-year fixed | $3.77/GJ | Unchanged |
| Rate of Last Resort (default) | 12.01–12.06¢/kWh | Fixed to Dec 31, 2026 |
Note the arithmetic on the variable rate. The 30-day electricity average of 5.31¢/kWh is calculated as of August 17, so it does not yet contain Saturday’s spike. A $958 hour and 18 hours over $100 will pull next month’s rolling average up, though a single week of a 30-day window can only move it so far. Anyone on the default Rate of Last Resort is still paying roughly double the competitive variable rate.
Regulatory and market news
- Data centre framework. Alberta’s Data Centre Regulation, made under the Electric Utilities Act, directs the AESO to prioritize large data centres that bring their own generation to the grid, applies consistent connection criteria to large data centre projects seeking grid access, and enables load management for them. The AESO has concluded Phase 1 of its Large Load Integration Program, allocating all 1,200 MW of the interim connection limit — 970 MW to the GLDC load project and 230 MW to Keephills Data Centre Phase I. Phase 2 is developing the long-term framework. For households, the question this framework is trying to answer is whether very large new loads raise everyone’s prices or pay their own way in new supply.
- MSA second-quarter report. The Market Surveillance Administrator’s Q2 2026 Wholesale Market Report puts the quarterly average pool price at $29.47/MWh, down 27% year over year and 8% from Q1. Q1 itself averaged $32.15/MWh, 19% below Q1 2025. Two consecutive quarters near $30/MWh is the backdrop against which this week’s $56 average should be read.
- Rate of Last Resort. Unchanged at 12.01 to 12.06¢/kWh and fixed through December 31, 2026. Under AUC Decision 29204-D01-2024, the rates for the second two-year term — January 1, 2027 to December 31, 2028 — are calculated under the providers’ approved energy price setting plans and must be filed with the Commission at least 30 days before January 1, 2027. That filing is the regulatory item worth watching this fall.
What this means if your contract is up
One volatile Saturday does not change a trend. The 30-day rolling average moved about a dollar. Two consecutive quarters have averaged near $30/MWh, and the fundamentals holding Alberta prices down — large intermittent capacity, moderate demand, cheap gas — are all still in place.
What the week does illustrate is the actual shape of variable-rate risk. It is not a gradual drift upward; it is a small number of expensive hours in an otherwise cheap month. On the record of the past year, variable has been the cheaper position. The one-year fixed rate of 6.57¢/kWh sits about 1.26¢ above the current 30-day variable average, and that spread is the price of not caring which hours are expensive. Both are defensible. The default rate, at roughly double either, is not.
We publish this report every Monday. The detailed reasoning behind the fixed-or-variable call is in fixed vs variable electricity rates in Alberta, and current rates are always on our rates page.
Sources
- AESO market and system reporting — hourly pool price and Alberta internal load, August 10–23, 2026. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
- Government of Alberta — Alberta natural gas reference price — monthly $/GJ series through June 2026. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
- Market Surveillance Administrator — Wholesale Market Reports — Q2 2026 and Q1 2026 pool price averages. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
- Data Centre Regulation and AESO — Large Load Projects — data centre connection framework and Phase 1 allocations. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
- AUC Decision 29204-D01-2024 — Rate of Last Resort terms and the 2027–2028 filing requirement. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
This report is compiled from public market data and is provided for information, not as advice to buy or sell any energy product. 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.
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