Massachusetts families are paying some of the highest energy bills in the country, not because America lacks affordable energy, but because New England lacks the infrastructure needed to deliver it when demand is highest.

During this past winter’s cold snap, natural gas prices in constrained parts of the Northeast surged to nearly 17 times the price in nearby Pennsylvania. The reason was not “volatility.” It was a pipeline system operating at capacity.

As energy costs continue to rise across Massachusetts, some have begun blaming natural gas “volatility” for high utility bills. It is an appealingly simple explanation, but it misses the real issue.

Price volatility simply means prices can move up or down over short periods of time. It does not explain why energy costs in Massachusetts remain consistently higher than in most of the country. The underlying problem is that New England’s energy infrastructure has not kept pace with demand, leaving the region vulnerable during periods of extreme cold.

Across much of the United States, abundant domestic natural gas keeps energy relatively affordable and reliable. New England, however, cannot fully access those supplies because of longstanding pipeline constraints. Even though the Marcellus Shale in neighboring Pennsylvania is one of the largest natural gas production regions in the world, insufficient delivery infrastructure limits how much fuel can reach our region when demand spikes.

When winter heating demand rises sharply, those constraints become magnified. Pipelines fill up, supply tightens, and prices climb rapidly.

That is exactly what happened during Winter Storm Fern earlier this year. Spot natural gas prices in constrained areas of the Northeast approached $179 per MMBtu, while prices near the Marcellus production region remained a fraction of that level. The difference was not caused by global instability or market dysfunction. It was caused by physical bottlenecks that prevented additional supply from reaching New England.

Those same constraints also drive up electricity prices.

Natural gas remains the backbone of electric generation in New England and often sets the wholesale price of electricity. When gas supplies tighten, power prices increase quickly. During periods when pipelines are fully utilized, the electric grid is forced to rely more heavily on less efficient fuels such as fuel oil, biomass, and refuse-to-energy generation.

That has consequences not only for affordability, but also for emissions.

According to ISO New England, natural gas has played a major role in reducing electric-sector emissions across the region over the past several decades by displacing higher-emitting fuels. But during severe winter conditions, those environmental gains can be reversed when the system must turn back to oil because natural gas infrastructure is constrained.

Some argue these challenges are evidence that the region should move away from natural gas altogether. But energy systems cannot be transformed overnight, and any transition must remain grounded in affordability, reliability, and practicality.

Reliable, dispatchable energy resources continue to play an essential role in supporting homes, businesses, hospitals, manufacturers, and the electric grid itself. Moving away from those resources before scalable alternatives are fully capable of meeting demand risks increasing costs further while undermining reliability.

Massachusetts families and employers are already feeling the strain of high energy prices. Addressing that challenge requires an honest assessment of what is driving those costs. The central issue is not “volatility.” It is the growing mismatch between the energy New England needs and the infrastructure available to deliver it.

If we want energy that is affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible, the solution cannot be to ignore those constraints. It must include practical investments in the infrastructure needed to ensure New England has access to dependable energy when residents and businesses need it most.

José Costa is the president and CEO of Northeast Gas Association.