Gas prices jump 70% in days as Arctic blast looms and power firms cash in as families fear $5k heating bills | 23 Jan 2026 | Americans are being warned to brace for sharply higher heating bills after natural gas prices surged just as the brutal Arctic freeze is set to grip the country. Natural gas prices have surged as much as 70 percent in just days, as forecasters warn of one of the coldest stretches in decades. The combination that threatens to push household heating bills hundreds of dollars or more higher for some families. The two weeks ending in early February are forecast to be the coldest since 1985, forcing families to have the heating on high almost nonstop across large parts of the country and sending demand for heating fuel soaring. “Yes – individual bills are likely to soar,” Eli Rubin, senior energy analyst at EBW Analytics Group, told Daily Mail about this weekend’s storm Fern.