Natural Gas Rates Drop
Direct Energy Regulated Services Sets Lower Natural Gas Rate for July 2026 at $1.595/GJ
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Alberta natural gas customers on the default rate will pay less in July. Direct Energy Regulated Services (DERS) has set the July 2026 regulated rate at $1.595 per gigajoule (GJ), down 23% from June's rate of $2.076 per GJ, according to Financial Post.
The rate applies to customers in the ATCO Gas North and South service areas who have not picked a competitive supplier. It is based on a market reference price of roughly $1.667 per GJ, with a small adjustment of -$0.072 per GJ to correct for past pricing variances, National Post reported.
How the July Rate Was Calculated
DERS sets its rate each month using a method called the Gas Cost Flow-Through Rate. The idea is simple: the company buys gas on the market and passes the cost to customers with no markup. The Alberta Utilities Commission checks the math to make sure pricing is fair and reasonable.
For July, the market reference price came in at $1.667 per GJ on the NGX exchange. DERS then applied an adjustment of -$0.072 per GJ to account for differences between forecasted and actual costs in June and earlier months. That brought the final rate to $1.595 per GJ, according to Fairview Post.
What Alberta Households Will Actually Pay in July
A lower commodity rate does not tell the whole story on your bill. Delivery charges from ATCO Gas — called TDSP charges — vary by region and add significant costs. For a typical 2 GJ of summer usage, a customer in the North territory (Red Deer and north) will pay about $65, while a customer in the South pays around $51, according to Pincher Creek Echo.
That $14 gap between North and South customers comes entirely from higher pipeline delivery fees in northern Alberta, not the gas price itself. The commodity rate is identical across both regions.
A Rocky Year of Price Swings Before This Drop
The July decrease follows a sharp spike. In May 2026, the regulated rate sat at just $0.936 per GJ — one of the lowest levels in years. Then it jumped to $2.076 per GJ in June, a more than 120% increase in a single month, according to Brantford Expositor.
Alberta's gas market has been volatile for years. Prices hit a crisis high of $6.53 per GJ in 2021–2022 due to global energy shortages. They then bottomed out near $0.64 per GJ in 2024 as regional supply built up. The provincial government's Natural Gas Rebate Program only kicks in if prices exceed $6.50 per GJ — a level far above today's rate.
Fixed Contracts vs. Default Rate — and What Comes Next
DERS markets the regulated rate as significantly cheaper than locking in a fixed contract. The average fixed rate from competitive retailers sits around $4.36 per GJ in 2026 — more than twice the July default rate. However, fixed contracts offer price certainty if global demand spikes or a harsh winter hits, according to Fort Saskatchewan Record.
Analysts warn the cheap-gas era may not last. As LNG Canada's export terminal ramps up, Alberta's gas supply gets tied to higher global prices. That could push future regulated rates higher, even as the Smith government uses today's low prices to attract AI data centers that need massive amounts of cheap energy.
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