The best way to get $6 natural gas is to have everyone plan on $3 gas.

That was a sentiment heard repeatedly during the winter meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the Department of Energy's National Electricity Forum in Washington, D.C.

With inventories consistently high and next-month prices dipping below $2.50 per million Btu, natural gas has become the default choice for power generators – and that's the problem.

Spurred by looming Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits on mercury and emissions, utilities are looking hard at retrofitting old plants for gas or building new stations. The economics are based on current gas prices, however, and higher demand endangers those assumptions.