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The Spread
Monthly spark spreads against the U.S. delivered gas-cost benchmark.
GRIDLINES ANALYSIS · July 2026
Latest page month; individual hubs may end earlier.
Mass Hub spark spread
Selected month
July 2026 · $61.31/MWh
36 of 36 months shown in this period.
Power data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), republished with permission from data collected by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). This product features derived information and is not an official feed of ICE.
Gas cost data source: EIA, Form EIA-923 — the U.S. electric-power sector’s average delivered natural-gas cost, one national benchmark used for every hub. It is not ICE data.
National gas-cost benchmark · Fuel margin, not profit
July 2026
- Spark spread · $/MWh
- $61.31
- On-peak power · $/MWh
- $86.73
- U.S. delivered gas benchmark · $/MMBtu
- $3.37
- Breakeven gas · $/MMBtu
- $11.49
How to read this chart
Reading the spread
Zero is where on-peak power covers the reference plant’s gas cost. Hatching marks a positive fuel margin. Every hub uses the same U.S. delivered gas-cost benchmark. Gaps mean no supported monthly value. This is a fuel margin, not profit.
View monthly values
| Month | Spark spread, $/MWh | On-peak power, $/MWh | U.S. delivered gas benchmark, $/MMBtu | Breakeven gas, $/MMBtu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2023 | $6.82 | $29.09 | $2.95 | $3.85 |
| September 2023 | $18.26 | $39.99 | $2.88 | $5.30 |
| October 2023 | $10.01 | $32.12 | $2.93 | $4.26 |
| November 2023 | $16.53 | $42.29 | $3.41 | $5.60 |
| December 2023 | $24.47 | $49.49 | $3.32 | $6.56 |
| January 2024 | $37.66 | $75.02 | $4.95 | $9.94 |
| February 2024 | $17.14 | $39.24 | $2.93 | $5.20 |
| March 2024 | $9.44 | $26.17 | $2.22 | $3.47 |
| April 2024 | $12.08 | $27.60 | $2.06 | $3.66 |
| May 2024 | $13.72 | $31.15 | $2.31 | $4.13 |
| June 2024 | $29.33 | $49.65 | $2.69 | $6.58 |
| July 2024 | $48.98 | $67.91 | $2.51 | $9.00 |
| August 2024 | $20.95 | $37.99 | $2.26 | $5.03 |
| September 2024 | $18.96 | $36.87 | $2.37 | $4.88 |
| October 2024 | $21.06 | $40.77 | $2.61 | $5.40 |
| November 2024 | $24.40 | $44.44 | $2.66 | $5.89 |
| December 2024 | $53.76 | $83.15 | $3.89 | $11.02 |
| January 2025 | $106.87 | $152.19 | $6.00 | $20.16 |
| February 2025 | $96.28 | $133.20 | $4.89 | $17.65 |
| March 2025 | $14.00 | $45.78 | $4.21 | $6.06 |
| April 2025 | $15.53 | $42.73 | $3.60 | $5.66 |
| May 2025 | $14.88 | $39.73 | $3.29 | $5.26 |
| June 2025 | $39.41 | $64.66 | $3.35 | $8.57 |
| July 2025 | $63.37 | $90.10 | $3.54 | $11.94 |
| August 2025 | $38.01 | $61.97 | $3.17 | $8.21 |
| September 2025 | $15.66 | $38.63 | $3.04 | $5.12 |
| October 2025 | $22.46 | $45.77 | $3.09 | $6.06 |
| November 2025 | $36.65 | $66.17 | $3.91 | $8.77 |
| December 2025 | $102.79 | $141.34 | $5.11 | $18.73 |
| January 2026 | $109.42 | $185.98 | $10.14 | $24.64 |
| February 2026 | $74.02 | $121.89 | $6.34 | $16.15 |
| March 2026 | $24.35 | $47.85 | $3.11 | $6.34 |
| April 2026 | $28.85 | $49.79 | $2.77 | $6.60 |
| May 2026 | $30.32 | $51.12 | $2.76 | $6.77 |
| June 2026 | $37.47 | $61.43 | $3.18 | $8.14 |
| July 2026 | $61.31 | $86.73 | $3.37 | $11.49 |
Compare hubs in July 2026
| Hub | Spark spread ($/MWh) |
|---|---|
| Mass Hub · shown | $61.31 |
| PJM West | $117.25 |
| Indiana Hub | No valueLast supported: July 2023 |
| Mid-C | $29.80 |
| NP-15 | $17.59 |
| SP-15 | $14.09 |
| Palo Verde | $29.59 |
Latest page month
In July 2026, all six hubs with a value that month cleared a reference combined-cycle plant’s U.S. delivered gas-cost benchmark; one hub has no value for it.
Explore the grid around Mass Hub
These Atlas pages provide geographic context. The links do not define the hub’s market boundary or its gas cost. Every spread uses the same U.S. gas-cost benchmark.
What this comparison leaves out
- This is a fuel margin, not a profit. It leaves out operating and maintenance cost, capital cost, capacity payments and ancillary revenue.
- On-peak power only. These are next-trading-day on-peak power prices; nights and weekends are excluded from the power leg. The gas cost is a monthly U.S. survey average of fuel received by electric-power generators, including delivery. It is not a traded gas-hub price or the cost of gas burned in that month.
- No carbon cost. Generators in RGGI states and California also buy allowances, which this leaves out.
- A reference plant, not a real one. The heat rate is an EIA fleet average for the technology, not any particular plant’s.
- A hub is a market, not the nation. Each power price is local; the fuel benchmark is the same national average for all seven hubs. Their different footprints make this a comparison, not an individual plant margin or an estimate of each hub’s local gas cost.
- A common month only. EIA-923 fuel costs arrive later than power trades. A spread appears only after both inputs cover that month; the page names the latest common month and never combines different months.
A gas-turbine peaker burns about 10.999 MMBtu per MWh in the same EIA table, so the same power price covers a lower gas price for it; only the combined-cycle line is drawn.
Much of the country trades power outside these hubs, so it is not shown.