Gas sales benchmark price to rise by 6.3% in October

The gas sales benchmark price is composed of three parts:

• the supply, which includes the supply costs and costs associated with that natural gas supply activity;
• routing, i.e. network and storage tariffs;
• taxes (TVA, excise duty on natural gas and transmission tariff contribution - CTA), decided by the State.

At 1^er in october 2026, only the « supply » share is changing. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) announced on 10 September that the benchmark gas sales price will be €182.88 TTC per megawatt hour (MWh) in October 2026, compared to €172.05/MWh TTC in September 2026, an increase of 6.3% month-on-month.

This will have the consequence an average increase of €5.28 TTC on invoices of October. This increase concerns consumers whose offers are indexed to the gas sales benchmark price. Households that have subscribed to a fixed-price offer are therefore not affected by this development.

The Energy Regulatory Commission considers that the 2026 annual bill could be on average 10% higher than the 2025 annual bill (i.e. an increase of around €120 TTC), if the situation remains roughly stable by the end of the year.

This increase is mainly due to the increase in gas prices on the markets. Tensions in the gas market have existed in recent months, against the backdrop of ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

What is the benchmark price?

The benchmark price for natural gas sales published monthly by the CRE informs consumers in the context of the end of the regulated gas sales tariff (RGST).

It is published for information purposes and represents an average estimate of the costs incurred by suppliers in supplying natural gas to a residential customer.

For consumers, it serves as a compass for comparing offers, giving them an idea of the price at which regulated tariffs would have been maintained. The CRE specifies that suppliers now freely build their offers according to the supply conditions (energy costs on the wholesale market), their commercial choices and the contractual conditions they offer. However, some of the marketed offers are indexed to the gas sales benchmark price.