NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Dozens of New Orleanians flocked to St. Roch Community Church Thursday night (March 5) to hear directly from Delta Utilities representatives about why their natural gas bills have soared in recent months.
Among the crowd was Antoinette Norris, who lives in New Orleans East on only her Social Security income. Norris says she bought fewer groceries this week so she would have enough to pay her natural gas bill for February.
“I buy what I can when I can buy it and this (Delta Utilities bill) stopped me from buying. It went from $10 to $25 to $58 to $68 to $140,” Norris said.
Thursday’s meeting was called by Councilman Freddie King III, who is on the New Orleans City Council’s Utility, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology Committee. King says people citywide have been complaining about the increased gas bills.
“My bills have been up. My family members bills have been up,” King said.
Sarah McLaughlin Porteous, Delta Utilities’ vice president of communications, answered many of Thursday’s questions at the town hall meeting.
She says the spike in New Orleanians’ gas bills is due to nationwide demand for natural gas this winter. Even though New Orleans didn’t see much freezing weather, much of the nation did, which McLaughlin Porteous says caused Delta Utilities’ gas providers to increase their prices.
“15% of our supply is subject to the daily volatility of the markets,” she said.
McLaughlin Porteous says Delta Utilities sources its natural gas from multiple providers and even buys gas in the summer when prices are lower. The stored gas would be used when demand among its customers is high to help minimize price surges.
According to the Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price, the national average for Dollars per million BTU in September 2025 was $2.97. The costs rose each month until they spiked in January 2026 to $7.72, then declined to $3.62 in February.
McLaughlin Porteous says Delta Utilities customers in New Orleans saw a 160 percent increase in their bills between September and February, but relief will be coming soon as demand for gas nationwide declines.
“Customers are going to start seeing relief on their March bills about 30% or more,” she said.
However, New Orleanians like Norris question why Delta Utilities didn’t warn customers about the rise in gas prices.
“Maybe I could’ve been prepared for that if they said the gas is going up,” Norris said.
In response, McLaughlin Porteous says mailers are going out to customers this month explaining the current state of the gas industry.
“I think we could have done a better job of communicating with our customers about what we were seeing,” she said.
While customers wait to see a lowered utility bill, Councilman King says he’s open to a possible audit of Delta Utilities over the recent spike in bills.
“I don’t believe one has been called yet but that’s not out of the question. If that’s needed then absolutely,” he said.
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