# Natural gas/heat in edmonton=fixed or variable better in winter?



## Mike1 (Jul 22, 2015)

Hi,
I have taken natural gas through enmax in edmonton. Was wondering for this winter, is it better to keep it fixed or variable? Which will be cheap for winter?

Thank you


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## crr243 (Nov 2, 2015)

The peak regulated rate last winter was 4.184/GJ. The average of Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 was 3.33/GJ.

Most floating plans then add 0.90/GJ to the floating rate, so the rate you would have paid last Winter is 4.23/GJ. Natural gas prices this year have been trending lower. 
Most fixed rate plans right now are 4.99/GJ, which is 18% higher than last year's winter average. I believe last year at this time, fixed rates were 5.99/GJ, which would have been 40% more expensive than the floating rate.

Depending on which retailer you deal with, admin costs are the whether you're on the floating or the fixed rate.

Without doing too much further analysis, I'm sticking with floating.


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## crr243 (Nov 2, 2015)

Here are historic rates for gas: http://www.atcogas.com/Rates/Documents/South-Low-Use-Jan-2006-to-Current-Rates.pdf

There are only a couple months of the year where I would have benefited from being on the fixed rate, but some of those are staggering (ex: March, 2014 when rates were over 9.00/GJ).

Given that ENMAX has dropped their fixed rates (6.99/kWh and 4.99/GJ), I may have to put more analysis into this!


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## Mike1 (Jul 22, 2015)

Hi,
Thank you so much. So I think floating is good. Also, is direct energy good if I am bundling electricity and gas? Admin cost for electricity and gas through enmax is around $14 and through direct energy it is around $9

Thank you


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## crr243 (Nov 2, 2015)

Mike1 said:


> Hi,
> Thank you so much. So I think floating is good. Also, is direct energy good if I am bundling electricity and gas? Admin cost for electricity and gas through enmax is around $14 and through direct energy it is around $9
> 
> Thank you


You have 2 posts on the same topic. I answered this in your other post.


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