Last night's spike.
This morning's North jump.
Sunday, November 8, 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 Sunday: $13.88 more in the West (about 1.4 cents per kWh). [1]
North Hub in the 15 minutes ending 7:15 a.m., while South Hub was $23.98, a $52.71 gap. That is one 15-minute reading, not a daily average. [3]
West load zone, 6 to 7 p.m. (day-ahead). West Hub in the same hour: $75.98. [1]
West Hub in the 15 minutes ending 10:00 p.m. Saturday. North Hub peaked at $77.31 in the same interval. [2]
54 Bcf (1.4%) above the five-year average for this week; 109 Bcf (2.8%) below a year ago. Still the latest weekly report. [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 Saturday, November 7, the four trading hubs were: West $53.53, North $42.08, South $42.07 and Houston $41.16 per MWh. [2]
Compared with the day-ahead prices set the afternoon before, the day came in lower: West averaged $53.53 in real time against $57.27 day-ahead, and North $42.08 against $44.88. Day-ahead prices had pointed to an evening peak (8 to 9 p.m. at North and West), as our Nov 7 report showed; at North and West the real-time peak came about an hour later. [4]
03 / Today: the West pays more, and a morning surprise in the North
ERCOT set Sunday's day-ahead prices on Saturday afternoon (published 12:32 p.m. Central). Prices are lowest in the early afternoon and highest from about 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The West Hub is higher than the North Hub in all 24 hours; the gap is widest in the first hour after midnight ($18.29) and again from 6 to 7 p.m. ($17.76).
Sunday, Nov 8: day-ahead price by hour ($ per MWh)
What the numbers say
At 6 to 7 p.m. the West Hub is $17.76 above the North Hub, and the West load zone is $27.83 above it. Over the full day, the West load zone averages $23.16 more than the North load zone ($64.35 versus $41.19). [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.
Average, lowest and highest price for each location (24 hours, $ per MWh)
| Location | Average | Lowest hour | Highest hour | Peak hour ending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Hub | $39.49 | $24.92 | $59.65 | 20 |
| Houston Hub | $34.89 | $28.73 | $42.74 | 20 |
| South Hub | $33.45 | $26.74 | $41.48 | 17 |
| West Hub | $53.37 | $37.33 | $75.98 | 19 |
| North load zone | $41.19 | $25.12 | $65.51 | 20 |
| Houston load zone | $35.74 | $30.34 | $43.20 | 20 |
| South load zone | $32.70 | $25.98 | $40.25 | 20 |
| West load zone | $64.35 | $46.48 | $86.05 | 19 |
Each average is the mean of the 24 hourly day-ahead prices ERCOT published. We re-computed every figure from ERCOT's file. [1]
All 24 hourly day-ahead prices ($ per MWh)
| Hour ending | North Hub | Houston Hub | South Hub | West Hub | West load zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $44.02 | $39.23 | $39.33 | $62.31 | $78.15 |
| 2 | $45.10 | $36.87 | $35.20 | $61.79 | $77.02 |
| 3 | $40.27 | $33.58 | $31.95 | $55.87 | $69.76 |
| 4 | $39.59 | $33.45 | $30.65 | $52.23 | $63.75 |
| 5 | $38.70 | $34.26 | $31.07 | $47.58 | $57.90 |
| 6 | $40.12 | $33.91 | $29.10 | $49.54 | $59.51 |
| 7 | $34.97 | $32.90 | $29.52 | $47.88 | $59.29 |
| 8 | $32.80 | $29.80 | $27.72 | $45.17 | $57.27 |
| 9 | $28.89 | $31.25 | $33.04 | $42.98 | $56.26 |
| 10 | $25.29 | $28.82 | $29.31 | $39.37 | $51.27 |
| 11 | $26.98 | $30.62 | $29.56 | $38.88 | $48.61 |
| 12 | $26.49 | $30.97 | $28.31 | $38.82 | $48.02 |
| 13 | $25.01 | $29.40 | $27.04 | $37.76 | $47.44 |
| 14 | $24.92 | $28.73 | $26.74 | $37.33 | $46.48 |
| 15 | $27.84 | $31.35 | $29.85 | $41.14 | $50.48 |
| 16 | $34.18 | $36.35 | $36.87 | $47.80 | $57.32 |
| 17 | $42.98 | $39.88 | $41.48 | $58.84 | $69.32 |
| 18 | $58.66 | $40.60 | $40.17 | $75.79 | $84.67 |
| 19 | $58.22 | $40.56 | $40.27 | $75.98 | $86.05 |
| 20 | $59.65 | $42.74 | $41.12 | $75.66 | $85.22 |
| 21 | $53.92 | $39.72 | $37.91 | $67.70 | $76.71 |
| 22 | $50.99 | $40.61 | $38.78 | $65.22 | $75.78 |
| 23 | $48.03 | $38.14 | $35.72 | $61.80 | $73.08 |
| 24 | $40.19 | $33.58 | $32.02 | $53.41 | $65.00 |
This morning's real-time surprise
Real-time prices overnight were calm. Then, in the 15 minutes ending 7:15 a.m., North Hub reached $76.69 and West Hub $83.19, the highest of the 32 intervals since midnight at both hubs, while South Hub was $23.98 and Houston Hub $38.26. By 8:00 a.m. North had eased to $56.27 and West to $60.44, still well above South ($25.05). [3]
| 15 minutes ending | North Hub | Houston Hub | South Hub | West Hub |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:15 a.m. | $76.69 | $38.26 | $23.98 | $83.19 |
| 8:00 a.m. | $56.27 | $33.51 | $25.05 | $60.44 |
The day-ahead market had not expected this. For the 7 to 8 a.m. hour, day-ahead prices were $32.80 at North and $45.17 at West. The four real-time intervals in that hour averaged $67.11 at North and $72.63 at West, while South came in lower than day-ahead ($23.92 versus $27.72). [1] [3]
This is a single morning hour. We cannot tell you what caused it: ERCOT's outage, transmission and demand detail was not available to us, so we do not name a cause. Check ERCOT's real-time page later today to see whether it repeats.
04 / Natural gas
Gas storage: no new report
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's latest report, released Nov 5 for the week ended Oct 30, showed an injection of 77 billion cubic feet (Bcf), bringing storage to 3,801 Bcf. That is 54 Bcf above the five-year average of 3,747 Bcf and 109 Bcf below the 3,910 Bcf of a year ago: comfortable against normal, lower than last year. [5]
Gas prices are steady
ENGIE's pricing page, last updated Nov 8, lists the December natural gas contract at $2.998 per MMBtu against a prior settlement of $2.947. The page does not say which trading session the price is from, and futures markets are not open for a Sunday morning, so treat it as the latest recent price rather than a live quote. Gas is a major driver of Texas power prices, but a few cents of movement does not set a retail rate. [6]
05 / What it means for you
Homeowners
Today's gaps are wholesale gaps, not a change to anyone's bill. A fixed-rate plan keeps its price for its term no matter what the market does this morning. 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 North and West morning readings in section 03 matter if your contract is priced at one of those settlement points. Ask which settlement point your contract uses, a hub or a load zone, because today they differ by $10.07 at the West evening peak. Business electricity
Anyone shopping around
A single morning 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
Prices that swing between hours and between regions are the reason grid batteries and flexible demand get so much attention. One morning'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 8) 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.
- Why North and West spiked at 7:15 a.m. Generator outages, transmission limits and battery levels were not available to us, so no cause is named.
- Grid demand, capacity, wind and solar readings from early Sunday morning. They came from a rolling ERCOT display that changes every minute and cannot be re-checked afterwards, so we left them out rather than quote numbers we could not verify.
- Retail plan prices. They vary by address and change daily; this report does not use them.
07 / How we checked this report
The day-ahead and real-time prices above were re-computed from ERCOT's published tables, including all 24 day-ahead hours for Sunday and all 96 real-time intervals for Saturday. The gas storage figures were checked against the U.S. Energy Information Administration's release. All dollar amounts are wholesale prices, not retail bills, offers or advice.
08 / Sources & references
- ERCOT day-ahead settlement point prices, Nov 8 2026 (24 hourly rows, published Nov 7)
- ERCOT real-time settlement point prices, Nov 7 2026 (96 fifteen-minute intervals)
- ERCOT real-time settlement point prices, Nov 8 2026 (intervals through 8:00 a.m.)
- ERCOT day-ahead settlement point prices, Nov 7 2026
- EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, released Nov 5, week ended Oct 30
- ENGIE Resources today's pricing data