House Finance writes a $16 gas-price cap into Alaska LNG bill — even if Enstar's contract isn't signed

The Alaska House Finance Committee voted 6-5 Monday to write a $16-per-MMBtu cap on natural gas prices for Alaskans into the state's Alaska LNG tax legislation — codifying in law what Enstar has separately negotiated with the project's developer, so that Alaska consumers have a price ceiling even if the contract isn't signed.

Amendment 14, sponsored by Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, sets a statutory ceiling on what gas utilities can charge Alaska customers, inflation-adjusted annually from 2026. The cap kicks in only after gas starts flowing through the pipeline; it has no effect on construction-phase economics. The amendment attaches a consumer-price protection to House Bill 381, the broader legislation that would replace the existing 20-mill state property tax on oil and gas property with a volumetric throughput tax on the Alaska LNG pipeline.

Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, opposed the amendment, saying the cap mirrors the contract Enstar has already negotiated with developer Glenfarne — but he objected to putting commercial contract terms into statute. "This amendment basically mirrors what we know to be the contract that Enstar already has with the developer based on Enstar's testimony," Stapp said, while acknowledging it does not harm the project.

Co-Chair Calvin Schrage, who offered two technical amendments tightening the cap's inflation baseline and unit of measurement, said the statutory cap was the only way to give voters a guarantee without a signed Enstar contract in hand. "Without that contract being signed, this is the only way that today any of us can go back to voters and a guarantee to them that they will not be paying a higher price of gas as a result of this project," Schrage said.

Enstar's cost-of-gas charges are normally reviewed through tariffs approved by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, which typically allows wholesale cost increases to flow through to ratepayers. The statutory cap would limit that pass-through for Alaska LNG gas specifically.

The committee plans to resume work on remaining amendments Tuesday.