Yesterday's 5 p.m. spike.
Today's West Texas premium.
Saturday, November 7, 2026 · Morning edition, 8:00 a.m. Central cutoff
PLAIN-ENGLISH MORNING BRIEFEvery morning we check what electricity and natural gas cost on the wholesale market, the prices power companies pay before a plan ever reaches your bill. If you have a fixed-rate plan, these day-to-day moves do not change your price. They are the background for the plan prices you see.
01 / Five things to know this morning
West Hub versus North Hub, per MWh, averaged over all 24 hours of Saturday: $12.39 more in the West (about 1.2 cents per kWh). [1]
West load zone, 8 to 9 p.m. North Hub in the same hour: $65.19. [1]
From 11 a.m. to noon up to 8 to 9 p.m.: roughly double, a $41.96 climb. [1]
West Hub in the 15 minutes ending 5:00 p.m. Friday. Every hub peaked in that same interval, from $72.85 (North) to $80.70. [2]
54 Bcf (1.4%) above the five-year average for this week; 109 Bcf (2.8%) below a year ago. [5]
02 / Yesterday: what power actually cost
ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, publishes real-time prices in 15-minute steps. Averaged over all 96 intervals of Friday, November 6, the four trading hubs were close together: Houston $35.38, West $32.74, South $32.25 and North $31.24 per MWh. [2]
It is not new. On Tuesday, November 3, ERCOT's South load zone reached $527.33 per MWh in the 15 minutes ending 6:00 p.m., its highest price that day. Calpine's weekly note says South prices "approached $400/MWh" that evening; ERCOT's 15-minute table shows a higher peak. [3] [9]
03 / Today: the West pays more, and more at night
ERCOT set Saturday's day-ahead prices on Friday afternoon (published 12:33 p.m. Central). Prices are lowest around midday, when solar is strong, and highest from 5 p.m. to midnight. The West is higher than the North in every one of the 24 hours, and the gap widens after sunset.
Saturday, Nov 7: day-ahead price by hour ($ per MWh)
What the numbers say
At 8 to 9 p.m. the West Hub is $16.69 above the North Hub, and the West load zone is $26.57 above it. Over the full day, the West load zone averages $20.14 more than the North load zone ($66.44 versus $46.30). [1]
What they do not say
A higher West price tells you power is costlier to deliver there, often because transmission lines are crowded. It does not tell you why today. ERCOT's detailed constraint data was not available to us, so we do not name a cause. Constellation's Nov 2 outlook expected wind to drop from about 14 GW on Nov 5 to about 6 GW from Nov 6 to 9; that is a possible factor, not a proven one. [8]
Average, lowest and highest price for each location (24 hours, $ per MWh)
| Location | Average | Lowest hour | Highest hour | Peak hour ending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Hub | $44.88 | $30.10 | $65.19 | 21 |
| Houston Hub | $43.79 | $34.51 | $61.40 | 17 |
| South Hub | $44.92 | $35.00 | $62.20 | 17 |
| West Hub | $57.27 | $39.92 | $81.88 | 21 |
| North load zone | $46.30 | $30.36 | $69.50 | 21 |
| Houston load zone | $45.45 | $35.87 | $64.21 | 17 |
| South load zone | $48.10 | $38.56 | $68.16 | 17 |
| West load zone | $66.44 | $46.10 | $91.76 | 21 |
Each average is the mean of the 24 hourly day-ahead prices ERCOT published. We re-computed every figure from ERCOT's file. [1]
All 24 hourly day-ahead prices ($ per MWh)
| Hour ending | North Hub | Houston Hub | South Hub | West Hub | West load zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $48.64 | $49.83 | $52.62 | $57.45 | $65.66 |
| 2 | $44.85 | $46.37 | $48.30 | $54.21 | $62.95 |
| 3 | $41.00 | $41.89 | $43.82 | $52.21 | $63.02 |
| 4 | $40.20 | $40.10 | $41.96 | $52.50 | $65.10 |
| 5 | $41.66 | $40.71 | $42.31 | $53.91 | $66.76 |
| 6 | $44.92 | $42.52 | $43.43 | $57.88 | $71.06 |
| 7 | $36.74 | $38.66 | $40.96 | $49.85 | $63.23 |
| 8 | $35.12 | $36.45 | $38.52 | $47.08 | $57.88 |
| 9 | $32.41 | $34.51 | $36.04 | $41.45 | $50.52 |
| 10 | $30.64 | $34.79 | $35.76 | $41.94 | $51.09 |
| 11 | $30.45 | $35.43 | $35.63 | $41.26 | $49.59 |
| 12 | $30.60 | $35.74 | $35.09 | $39.92 | $46.10 |
| 13 | $30.44 | $36.30 | $35.57 | $40.20 | $46.41 |
| 14 | $30.10 | $35.43 | $35.00 | $42.02 | $48.99 |
| 15 | $36.30 | $42.06 | $40.75 | $49.22 | $56.48 |
| 16 | $40.71 | $45.61 | $43.64 | $52.70 | $59.07 |
| 17 | $60.53 | $61.40 | $62.20 | $72.29 | $78.63 |
| 18 | $64.23 | $57.86 | $61.57 | $76.22 | $83.58 |
| 19 | $55.45 | $46.45 | $51.74 | $71.24 | $79.56 |
| 20 | $57.78 | $46.43 | $50.07 | $73.68 | $82.68 |
| 21 | $65.19 | $55.70 | $59.06 | $81.88 | $91.76 |
| 22 | $59.21 | $52.52 | $54.45 | $75.28 | $84.79 |
| 23 | $62.70 | $49.00 | $46.87 | $79.03 | $89.50 |
| 24 | $57.30 | $45.28 | $42.77 | $71.17 | $80.10 |
The early hours of today's real-time market, as published by ERCOT, show the same pattern: at 2:00 a.m., North Hub was $28.42, West Hub $43.95 and the West load zone $61.33. Those are eight overnight intervals, not a daily average. [4]
04 / Natural gas and longer-term power
Gas storage grew, a little less than expected
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an injection of 77 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ended Oct 30, bringing storage to 3,801 Bcf. Analysts had expected about 79 Bcf (NRG) to 81 Bcf (Calpine), so it came in 2 to 4 Bcf light. In the South Central region, where Texas sits, storage is 1,208 Bcf, 13 Bcf below its five-year average. [5] [9]
Gas prices are steady
NRG's Nov 6 morning update had the December natural gas contract up 5 cents at $3.00 per MMBtu. Gas is a major driver of Texas power prices, but a few cents of movement does not set a retail rate. [6]
Where a power company's calendar-2027 price quotes were this week
| Quote date | North Hub, 2027 | Houston Hub, 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 30 | $44.83 | $46.66 |
| Nov 2 | $44.62 | $46.45 |
| Nov 3 | $44.65 | $46.53 |
| Nov 4 | $43.10 | $44.98 |
| Nov 5 | $43.03 | $45.13 |
Vistra's weekly market update (the parent company of TXU Energy), dollars per MWh, indicative and not executable offers. From Oct 30 to Nov 5, North fell $1.80 (4.0%) and Houston fell $1.53 (3.3%). [7]
Put together, gas supply looks comfortable and the longer-term power quotes edged down this week. That is a description of one supplier's quotes over five days, not a forecast of retail prices.
05 / What it means for you
Homeowners
Today's gap is a wholesale gap, not a change to anyone's bill. A fixed-rate plan keeps its price for its term no matter what the market does tonight. For scale, $1/MWh is 0.1 cent per kWh before delivery charges, losses and the provider's margin. To see plans for your address, use our comparison tool; plan prices are not part of this report.
Business owners
Fixed-price contracts generally do not pass daily wholesale prices through. Index and partly hedged contracts can, which is why the West-versus-North gap in section 03 matters if your contract is priced at a West settlement point. Ask which settlement point your contract uses, a hub or a load zone, because today they differ by $9.88 at the evening peak in the West. Business electricity
Anyone shopping around
A single day of wholesale prices does not decide what a provider will offer next. Compare each plan's Electricity Facts Label and your own usage, and note when your current contract ends. See how Power to Choose works and when switching makes sense.
Energy watchers
Evening price jumps are the reason grid batteries and flexible demand get so much attention. One day's prices are not a trading signal, and the figures here do not include any battery, outage or transmission data.
06 / What we could not confirm
- Realized prices for today (Nov 7) after the 8:00 a.m. cutoff. Check ERCOT's real-time page tonight to see whether the evening matched the day-ahead prices above.
- Generator outages, transmission limits and battery levels. ERCOT's detailed data for these was not available to us, so no cause is named for the West premium.
- Retail plan prices. They vary by address and change daily; this report does not use them.
- Grid demand and wind output readings from early Saturday morning came from rolling ERCOT displays that change throughout the day. We left them out rather than quote numbers we could not re-check.
07 / How we checked this report
The day-ahead and real-time prices above were re-computed from ERCOT's published tables. The gas storage figures were checked against the U.S. Energy Information Administration's release, and the company market updates were read directly. Prices for Friday, Nov 6 were added when we reviewed this report, from ERCOT's published 15-minute file. All dollar amounts are wholesale prices, not retail bills, offers or advice.
08 / Sources & references
- ERCOT day-ahead settlement point prices, Nov 7 2026 (24 hourly rows, published Nov 6)
- ERCOT real-time settlement point prices, Nov 6 2026 (96 fifteen-minute intervals)
- ERCOT real-time settlement point prices, Nov 3 2026
- ERCOT real-time settlement point prices, Nov 7 2026 (overnight intervals)
- EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, released Nov 5, week ended Oct 30
- NRG Daily Market Updates, Nov 6 morning update
- Vistra ERCOT Market Update, Nov 6 2026 (PDF, page 1)
- Constellation energy market update, week of Nov 2
- Calpine Weekly Market Update, week of Oct 30 (PDF)
- NRG Daily Market Update, Nov 5 2026 (PDF)