If you're comparing Anchorage homes this winter, a seller's old ENSTAR bills tell you how much gas the house used. They don't tell you what that gas will cost you. The biggest charge on those bills is an average built mostly on Hilcorp contract gas at $8.78 per thousand cubic feet. Every source lined up to replace that gas costs more. ENSTAR president John Sims told Alaska Public Media in September that the price is "going to go up, zero question."
So treat last winter's bills as a floor. Below is how the average is built, when it resets, and where the higher cost turns up for buyers who never see an ENSTAR invoice.
Most of the Bill Is One Line
ENSTAR's current rate sheet splits a residential bill into four charges. These are the standard G1 home-meter rates in effect since July 1, 2026:
| Charge | G1 rate, effective July 1, 2026 | What it pays for |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Charge | $20.00 per account | Meter reading, billing, the service line |
| Service Charge (Base) | $0.18459 per Ccf | Upkeep of ENSTAR's pipeline system |
| Regulatory Cost Charge | 0.362% of the total bill | Funding for the Regulatory Commission of Alaska |
| Gas Cost Adjustment (GCA) | $1.08659 per Ccf | The cost of the gas itself, passed through |
ENSTAR says the GCA is usually 70 to 80% of most customers' monthly charges. It also says the GCA reflects what ENSTAR pays for gas, "nothing more," with no markup.
A simple calculation shows the split. At today's G1 rates, 100 Ccf of gas comes to about $147.65:
- $20.00 customer charge
- $18.46 base charge
- $108.66 GCA
- about $0.53 regulatory charge
The GCA is roughly three-quarters of that total. Every 10% change in the GCA moves the same 100 Ccf by about $10.87. The other lines barely matter. What you pay to heat a house mostly comes down to the price ENSTAR pays for gas.
$1.08659 Is an Average of Very Different Prices
The GCA is $10.8659 per Mcf, which works out to $1.08659 per Ccf. It's one blended number for the 12 months that began July 1, 2026. Underneath it, ENSTAR buys gas at very different prices. Reporting from July through September 2026 shows the range:
| Gas source | Price per Mcf | Source and timing |
|---|---|---|
| Hilcorp, existing contract | $8.78 | Alaska Beacon, July 2026 |
| ENSTAR weighted average | $10.80 | Sims, July 2026 |
| HEX sales to ENSTAR | $12.30, rising 1.5% a year | Petroleum News, Sept. 2026 |
| ENSTAR's offer for new Cook Inlet gas | $17.50, no takers | Alaska Beacon, July 2026 |
| Japan-Korea LNG spot market | about $24 | Alaska Public Media, Sept. 2026 |
The average sits near the bottom of that range because cheap gas makes up most of the mix. Hilcorp provides 85% of ENSTAR's gas under a contract set to end in 2033, the Anchorage Daily News reported in March 2026. Everything above the average in that table is gas ENSTAR is adding or trying to add. The Beacon reported that offering more money hasn't led producers to drill more. Sims said one producer told him "there's no price I could offer him that's worth the risk."
Imported gas, the long-term replacement, would be priced against that $24 spot market. Sims expects a long-term contract to land below the spot price. He also said, "it's not going to be $10.80, I guarantee that."
The Price Is Set for This Winter. July 1 Resets It.
That's why the timing matters for a purchase. ENSTAR adjusts the GCA each July after review by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. Alaska Public Media's guide asked whether ENSTAR bills will go up, and answered, "Yes, but not this winter."
For someone closing on a home this winter, the gas price is already fixed through June 30, 2027. Your first full heating season starts in fall 2027, after the next reset. The bills a seller shows you were priced at this year's GCA or an earlier one. Sims said he is "hopeful that it will be less than 100%" when describing how much costs will rise.
The coming winter also eats into reserves. In August, ENSTAR warned in Anchorage Daily News reporting that it could fall 3 Bcf short if deliveries stayed at the current pace. That's about 18 days of midwinter demand. By September, Hilcorp told a joint legislative hearing it had provided ENSTAR an extra 500 million cubic feet for this winter. It added that more gas is available if contracts are adjusted to bring future deliveries forward. Hilcorp senior vice president Luke Saugier cautioned that gas used this winter "won't be there in the future." Sims described exchange deals under negotiation in which other utilities would lend ENSTAR gas now in return for gas in 2028 or 2029. Either way, gas used this winter has to be replaced later, so pressure on future prices builds into the years when a new owner is paying the bills.
A Shared Gas Meter Puts the Cost in HOA Dues
Condo and townhome buyers may never get an ENSTAR bill, but the cost still reaches them. Larry Persily, a longtime Alaska energy analyst, sits on the board of his 10-unit condo association, where owners split one monthly gas bill evenly. He told Alaska Public Media the complex is over budget for gas and will raise monthly dues to cover it.
He also pointed out a quirk of shared billing: "I could turn down my heat to 64 (degrees), but that savings gets shared between all 10 of us."
In a building like that, the July GCA reset shows up in the association's budget and then in the dues. A dues figure quoted in a listing today may have been set before the board saw its latest gas bills. When an association's budget, reserves or meeting minutes are part of your purchase review, the gas line and any planned dues change belong in that review. This post is general information, not legal or financial advice. Confirm the details of any association or contract with the right professional before you rely on them.
Electric Heat Runs on the Same Gas
Homes with electric heat are exposed too. Natural gas produces more than 70% of Southcentral's electricity, according to research from the Institute of Social and Economic Research cited by Alaska Public Media. When gas runs short, electric utilities can burn diesel instead, which costs more. Persily described how that would reach customers: "If in January 2027 Chugach or MEA has to buy thousands of gallons of diesel that they hadn't budgeted for because they were short on gas, well, they're going to pass through those additional diesel costs right to customers on the next bill."
Chugach Electric told the outlet it has "plenty of gas" for its customers this winter and isn't planning blackouts. Matanuska Electric Association has warned members that rolling outages are possible in a worst-case scenario. Heat pumps are efficient, but the same report cites a study finding they would cost Anchorage-area residents thousands of dollars more a year than gas heat.
The Dates That Change the Average
Higher-priced gas enters the mix on a schedule:
- End of 2026. In July, Sims said a regulatory filing for an import facility needed to happen no later than the end of this year to have new gas by 2029.
- 2027. HEX has committed to sell 26 million cubic feet a day of firm gas, up from 8.1 million today, at its $12.30 price with yearly increases.
- July 1, 2027. The next GCA reset.
- 2028. Chugach Electric's Hilcorp supply contract ends, according to ADN reporting from February 2026.
- 2029. The target date for the Cook Inlet Gateway, the import terminal Glenfarne is developing in Nikiski with ENSTAR. Sims has said he questions the 2029 timeframe. Hilcorp told legislators that without another gas source by the winter of 2029, the system won't have enough gas for all of Southcentral's utilities.
- 2033. ENSTAR's Hilcorp contract, the source of the $8.78 gas, runs through this year.
Regulators are also looking at import costs. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska opened docket I-26-001 on January 29, 2026, to investigate the cost of LNG facilities. Harvest Alaska is pursuing a competing import project at the former Kenai LNG plant.
FAQ
Are a seller's past gas bills still worth asking for? Yes, for usage. Ccf per month tells you how the house uses gas: insulation, furnace, size. To estimate cost, multiply that usage by the current rates and remember that the GCA resets every July 1.
Does this apply outside Anchorage? ENSTAR serves more than 150,000 customers on one Southcentral pipeline system, and its rate sheet doesn't vary by community. A G1 home in Eagle River or the Valley pays the same per-Ccf rates as one in Anchorage.
Will the heat stay on this winter? A spokesperson told Alaska Public Media that ENSTAR doesn't expect to cut off residential customers this winter.
Comparing homes this winter? The Wolf Real Estate team can help you turn a home's past gas use into an estimate at today's rates and ask the right questions about an association's gas budget before you write an offer. Start your Anchorage home search with us and we'll go over the heating numbers along with the price.
