Hey it's Slav
Someone asked ENSTAR's president “how much more will it cost to heat your house?”
Here is what he said. "It's going to go up, zero question, and I'm hopeful that it will be less than 100%."
Read that twice. His hopeful answer is that your bill does not double.
I did this math for you back in August. I got to about double. Three weeks later, the man who buys the gas set his own best case in the same spot.
Here’s why.
Alaska ran on natural gas last year. About 60 percent of all the energy we burned. Most of it comes out of Cook Inlet, about 70 billion cubic feet a year.
That supply is getting thin.
ENSTAR pays about $11 for a thousand cubic feet right now. If we have to ship gas in instead, the world price is about $24. Same gas. More than twice the price.
The plant that would fix this is not due to open until 2029. So we have a few winters to get through first. The first one starts next month.
Now the part that hits your wallet.
Our dividend is $1,200 this year. Checks start October 1. That is the same month your heat bill comes back.
So what can you actually do?
The best tool is budget billing. ENSTAR spreads your gas cost over eleven months, so January is not a cliff.
Here is the catch. You cannot sign up right now. ENSTAR only takes signups from May 1 through July 31. The window for this winter closed on July 31.
So put May 1, 2027 in your phone today. Next winter you can be on a flat bill.
Two things you can still do.
Call ENSTAR and ask for a payment arrangement. That one is open all year, not just in summer.
And if money is going to be tight, the State of Alaska runs a heating assistance program that pays ENSTAR directly. It needs advance signup.
Start before the bill scares you, not after.
-Slav
P.S. Forward this to your neighbor. May 1 is the part they'll want.
The clocks:
Oct 1: PFD checks start going out, $1,200 per person.
Oct 4: last day to register to vote in the Nov 3 Mat-Su borough election.
Nov 3: Mat-Su ballot measure. A 1 percent sales tax paired with a $75,000 break on your primary home.
End of October: Anchorage's wildfire service area recommendations go to the Assembly.
May 1: ENSTAR budget billing signups reopen. Closes July 31.
The source, if you want to read it yourself:
https://alaskapublic.org/programs/alaska-economic-report/2026-09-09/what-to-know-about-the-southcentral-alaska-gas-crunchou w