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How To Get Cheaper Natural Gas
If you haven’t shopped around for a natural gas provider, you could be overpaying for your utilities. To see all the natural gas plans available to your home, use our comparison engine.
Don’t know your consumption?Enter your ZIP code
First, enter your ZIP code so we can return a personalized list of the natural gas providers operating in your area.
Enter your usage estimates
Next, give us your estimated annual gas consumption. We’ll use it to calculate how much you’ll spend on gas each year with each of the providers we find.
Choose from a personalized list of deals
Using your ZIP code and usage estimate, we’ll give you a bespoke list of the natural gas plans available to you and how much you’ll spend on each. When you find a deal that suits you, click on it to sign up.
Compare Natural Gas Providers: Deregulation
In the United States, natural gas used to be provided exclusively by regional monopoly companies. That changed in the 1990s when deregulation allowed competitors into some energy markets.
Is my state deregulated?
Today, natural gas customers in 27 states and Washington D.C. can select from a range of providers, giving them choice and often cheaper rates. If you live in a deregulated state and can choose your natural gas company, we can help you find one with the cheapest rates and best service.
Benefits of Natural Gas
Around half of American homes use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, and drying clothes. Why is natural gas a good choice for your household?
Cheaper prices
Natural gas is a cheaper commodity than electricity, costing 68% less per BTU, according to the Department of Energy.
Reliablity
Unlike electricity, which can go out during a storm, your natural gas supply will rarely, if ever, fail. That means you’ll still have heat, hot water, and be able to cook, even when your power is out.
Efficiency
Natural gas is a very efficient fuel source, making it cheaper than other fossil fuels and electricity. Using natural gas for your heating, cooking and some appliances will lower your energy consumption and your bills.
Better for cooking
Gas-powered stoves and ovens have better temperature control than electric models, allow you to cook dishes more carefully and precisely. Natural gas ovens also heat and cool more quickly, reducing their energy consumption.
Better for laundry
Natural gas dryers dry clothes more quickly and more efficiently, costing around half as much to run as an electric clothes dryer.
Quicker Heating
Natural gas powered water heaters tend to be quicker to get going that electric water heaters, which is great if you have a large family.
Natural Gas Rates: How Much Does Natural Gas Cost?
The average natural gas bill in the US is $72.10 per month, for an annual cost of $865.
That gas bill has two components:
- commodity cost: the cost of the natural gas itself, assessed per BTU.
- transmission and distribution costs: the cost of moving the natural gas by pipeline from where it is produced or stored to a local distribution utility and then to your home. This cost remains the same no matter how much gas you use.
Gas prices vary by state. In Hawaii, where natural gas has to be imported, you’ll spend an average of $223 a month, while in Montana and Idaho, you’ll spend around just $42 a month. In general, your natural gas prices will depend on the following factors:
- the distance of your home from where natural gas is produced or stored
- the pipeline infrastructure in your area
- local consumer demand
- whether the market is deregulated and how many suppliers are competing in the area
Frequently Asked Questions
Natural gas is a fossil fuel found in the ground, formed when the decomposing remains of plant and animals are exposed to intense heat and pressure under the surface of the Earth over millions of years. When burned, it releases energy that those plants originally derived from the sun and that was stored in the chemical bonds of the gas.
In nature, natural gas is a mixture of various hydrocarbon gases. The natural gas you receive through pipes at your home has been processed by gas utilities so it is just methane. Methane burns cleanly, producing only carbon dioxide and water.
In its natural state, natural gas has no smell. Utility companies add a chemical odorant called mercaptan to the gas they supply so gas leaks can be easily detected before they cause explosions and fires. At home, you’ll only briefly smell the gas when you light your stove. Natural gas heating, water heaters, and dryers don’t produce a smell when they’re working correctly.
Around half of US homes have a natural gas connection. That includes the 62 million homes (more than half) which are heated by natural gas. According to the 2010 census, 54% of new American homes completed in 2010 use natural gas for heating, compared to the 43% that use electricity and 1% that rely on oil.
In a deregulated gas market, you can choose your natural gas supplier. The following states have deregulated gas markets, although competition won’t have reached every area and in some states, deregulation is very limited.
- California
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wyoming