Countries With The Most Expensive, & Cheapest Electricity Prices (Electricity Prices Around The World)

Below, we list the countries with the most expensive electricity prices, and also the cheapest.

We also provide other information relevant to electricity prices in different countries.

It’s important to note that electricity prices can change over time in a particular place due to various factors.

Therefore, the prices below may be subject to change over time.

 

Summary – Countries With The Most Expensive, & Also The Cheapest Electricity

Global Average Electricity Price

In March 2019, the global average price of electricity was 0.15 US Dollars per kWh

 

Countries With The Most Expensive Electricity Prices

Multiple island countries have some of the most expensive electricity prices

But, Germany, Denmark, and Belgium have some of the most expensive electricity prices of non-island countries in the years listed, at between 29 to 35 US cents per kWh

 

Countries With The Cheapest Electricity Prices

There’s a range of countries with cheap electricity prices

There might be two range of cheap electricity prices …

Countries with very low prices, in the 0 to 2 cents per kWh range

And, those with cheap, but slightly higher prices, in the 3 to 8 US cents per kWh range, which includes some major countries (like Russia as one example)

 

Average Price Of Electricity In The US

The average electricity prices given for the US in 2019 – 14 US cents per kWh – is close to the global average

 

Electricity Prices Of Major Countries, & Other Notable Countries Around The World

Below, we list the average electricity prices of some of the biggest countries in the world, and other notable countries, like the US, China, India, and others

 

Electricity Prices Can Differ Within Countries

Compared to the national average price for electricity, electricity prices can different between the different regions within a country.

We give examples of this in the US and Australia in the guide below.

 

Electricity Prices Can Change Over Time

Such as from month to month, or, from year to year.

 

Electricity Prices Need Other Context & Considerations Too – Especially If Comparing To One Another

Before comparing electricity prices, other factors need to be taken into consideration too.

Prices compared to the cost of living in a country is one example of an additional consideration.

We mention others below.

 

Affordability Of Electricity In Different Countries

Norway and Canada might have some of the most affordable electricity in the world

Portugal and the Slovak Republic might have some of the least affordable electricity in the world

We provide other information on the affordability of electricity in the guide below

 

Trends In The Affordability Of Electricity Over Time

Over the last century, electricity has generally become more affordable worldwide

 

Is Cheaper Electricity Always Better For Different Countries?

In some cases, cheaper electricity might have some drawbacks to consider, such as potential issues with sustainability (of cheap fossil fuel power plants for example), or even issues with the quality or reliability of the power supply

Higher electricity prices can be a result of genuine problems in the energy sector, such as lack of overall competition from different energy sources, lack of competition between suppliers, not having enough overall energy supply, not having enough low cost energy sources, or poor government policy.

But, higher electricity prices might not always be a bad thing if there is a benefit, or multiple benefits.

A higher quality electricity service that is more secure or more reliable might be one example of a benefit (Denmark might be an example of this)

Additionally, some renewable energy and greener forms of energy might be more expensive in some cases, but may also be more sustainable in some ways, and have potential social benefits.

If electricity prices are higher, electricity users may want any potential benefits to be clearly linked to the increased price so that they know that the extra cost they are paying is providing a worthwhile return.

For example, higher electricity prices because of taxes and levies for renewables might need to be  strongly linked to one or multiple benefits that those renewables are providing.

 

Ways To Express Electricity Prices

Electricity prices can be expressed:

– In a specific currency e.g. USD

– In currency per unit of electricity e.g. cents or dollars per kWh of electricity

– Relating to a specific geographic location e.g. a whole country, or a part of a country, like a State or a city

– As applying to a specific time period e.g. a specific year

 

There’s other qualifications that might be made when expressing electricity prices, which we outline in the guide below.

 

Global Average Electricity Price

Knowing the global average electricity price can be a good benchmark to compare each individual country and region’s electricity prices against

 

In March 2019, the average price of electricity globally was 0.15 US Dollars per KWh (globalpetrolprices.com)

 

Countries With The Most Expensive Electricity Prices

Below, we can see that multiple island countries, or more remote countries top the lists for countries with the most expensive electricity prices

The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have two of the most expensive electricity prices in the years listed, at 99 and 60 US cents per kWh respectively

However, Germany, Denmark, and Belgium have some of the most expensive electricity prices of non-island countries in the years listed, at anywhere between 29 to 35 cents per kWh

 

According to globalpetrolprices.com, as of March 2019, some of the countries with the most expensive average prices of electricity (in USD per kWh) were:

Bermuda – 0.40 [40 US cents per kWh]

Germany – 0.35

Denmark – 0.34

Belgium – 0.32

Jamaica – 0.30

[At 0.29 was Japan, and Portugal]

[At 0.26 was Ireland, Italy and Barbados]

[At 0.25 was El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Australia, Liechtenstein , and the Netherlands]

[At 0.23 was Czech Republic, and the UK]

[At 0.22 was Uruguay, Belize, and Austria]

[At 0.21 was Peru, New Zealand, Uganda, Switzerland, and Luxembourg]

 

According to worldatlas.com, as of 2018, the countries with the most expensive electricity prices (in US cents per kWh) were:

Solomon Islands – 99 (US cents per kWh)

Vanuatu – 60

US Virgin Islands – 51.9

Cook Islands – 50.2

Tonga – 47

Jamaica – 44.7

Niue – 44.3

Marshall Islands – 41.6

[Followed by Tuvalu at 36.6, Germany at 35, Denmark at 33, Kiribati at 32.7, Belgium at 29.1, Netherlands, and then Italy at 28.4]

 

Countries With The Cheapest Electricity Prices

The countries with the cheapest electricity might fit into ranges

There’s a range of countries with between 0 to 2 US cents per kWh electricity. Some of these countries might have experienced different issues over the last few decades, such as internal conflict, of different forms of inconsistent economic development

In terms of the countries with between 3 to 8 US cents per kWh, there’s some notable countries, like for example Russia at 7 US cents per kWh, and the UAE at 8 cents

 

From globalpetrolprices.com, as of March 2019, some of the countries with the cheapest average prices of electricity (in USD per kWh) were:

Burma – 0.02 (2 US cents per kWh)

[At 0.03 was Iran, Iraq, Qatar, and Egypt]

[At 0.04 was Kazakhstan, Zambia, Azerbaijan, and Algeria]

[At 0.05 was Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Bahrain]

[At 0.06 was Georgia, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Malaysia]

[At 0.07 was Russia, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Vietnam]

[At 0.08 was India, Mexico, Macedonia, China, Nepal, Serbia, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, and  Armenia]

 

globalpetrolprices.com has since updated their cheapest electricity prices in December 2019, and it shows some of the cheapest electricity prices in different countries as (kWh, US Dollar):

[At 0.00 was both Venezuela, and Sudan]

[At 0.01 was, Ethiopia, Iran, Cuba, Zimbabwe, and Libya]

[At 0.02 Angola and Bhutan]

… [and there’s several other countries under 5 US cents per kWh]

 

Average Electricity Price In The United States

Specifically for the US, it appears that the average price of electricity is either increasing over time, or, the price varies from year to year

But, the price appears to be close to the global average of 15 US cents per kWh

 

The annual average electricity 

According to globalpetrolprices.com, the average electricity price in the US in March 2019 was:

0.14 USD (14 US cents) per kWh

 

According to eia.gov, the average retail electricity price in the US in 2017 was:

10.4 US cents per kWh  

 

Average Electricity Price In Major Countries, & Other Countries Of Note

Below are the electricity prices for some of the major or notable countries around the world.

Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Portugal have the highest electricity prices, fitting into the 33 to 26 US cents per kWh range

Argentina has the lowest at 1 cent per kWh 

Some of the biggest countries in the world have the following prices – China and India both at 8 cents, and the US at 13 cents

 

Per kWh

According statista.com, electricity prices in 2018, in U.S. dollars per kilowatt hour, were:

Germany – 0.33

Belgium – 0.28

Italy – 0.27

Portugal – 0.26

Spain – 0.24

Austria – 0.23

[At 0.22 was UK, and Japan]

Sweden – 0.21

New Zealand – 0.20

France – 0.19

[At 0.18 was Netherlands, Colombia, and Finland]

Poland – 0.16

Turkey – 0.15

[At 0.13 was US, and Brazil]

South Korea – 0.12

Canada – 0.11

Indonesia – 0.10

South Africa – 0.09

[At 0.08 was India, and also China]

Argentina – 0.01

 

Per MWh

iea.org also has USD per MWh electricity prices for many of the major countries above in their guide

 

Prices In Other Countries

There’s a list of global electricity prices for major countries in a table at wikipedia.org

You can sort the table for cheapest to most expensive, or vice versa.

 

Electricity Prices Can Differ Within Countries

Separate to the national average electricity price, electricity prices can differ between States, Provinces, and regions within countries

The United States and also Australia are examples of this, whereby electricity prices can differ between the States within these countries.

See a list of electricity price data for the different States in the US and Australia in this guide.

 

US

State based electricity prices in the US can also be viewed at eia.gov.

Hawaii, California, Alaska, and Massachusetts were among those States with some of the highest electricity prices for the year’s data provided.

 

Australia

State based electricity prices in Australia can be seen at gobulk.com.au

South Australia currently has the highest electricity prices for the year’s data provided.

 

From abc.net.au:

… households in the state of South Australia have on average the highest electricity prices in the world [… with Denmark and Germany behind South Australia, as Denmark and Germany pay the highest taxes]

[After South Australia … the] other Australian states … [with the highest electricity prices] were New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

 

Electricity Prices Can Change Over Time

Electricity prices can change month to month, or year to year.

We see this example with the data provided for the US above in this guide.

 

Comparing Electricity Prices Needs Other Context Too

Beyond factors like the year and the region of the country, there might be other factors to consider before comparing electricity prices.

For example, what isn’t considered in the figures provided above is the cost of living in each country, purchasing power parity, adjusted exchange rates, and so on

When these things are considered, it gives a better idea of the cost of electricity relative to how much things cost in a specific country

iea.org has information on purchasing power parity in relation to electricity prices for different countries in their report

As one example, we can see Australia’s raw electricity price average is higher than that of Brazil, Singapore, Morocco and Turkey, but all of these countries have more expensive electricity when considering cost of living, purchasing power parity, adjusted exchange rates, etc.

 

Affordability Of Electricity In Different Countries

Affordability of electricity prices might be assessed by comparing what % a day’s worth of electricity makes up of a day’s wage 

Based on this comparison …

Norway and Canada might have some of the most affordable electricity in the world

Portugal and the Slovak Republic might have some of the least affordable electricity in the world

 

The data below is from energycouncil.com.au …

 

More Affordable Countries

[In Norway, an average day’s worth of electricity can be purchased at 0.93% of day’s wages]

Canada – 1%

US – 1.24%

Switzerland – 1.39%

Luxembourg – 1.69%

Korea – 2.08%

Finland – 2.25%

Australia – 2.27%

Sweden – 2.27%

 

Less Affordable Countries

[In Portugal, an average day’s worth of electricity can be purchased at 8.84% of day’s wages]

Slovak Republic – 8.2%

Poland – 7.94%

Hungary – 7.38%

Czech Republic – 7.26%

Mexico – 6.59%

Estonia – 6.08%

Greece – 6.08%

 

Other Information On The Affordability Of Electricity In Different Countries

energycouncil.com.au has a good graph that shows the portion of a day’s wages needed to buy the average day of electricity usage in different countries 

 

Trends In The Affordability Of Electricity Over Time

Over the last century, electricity has generally become more affordable worldwide

 

spectrum.ieee.org has a good report that breaks down some of the trends of electricity prices over time.

They mention that in the last 100 years or so:

‘… a dollar now buys nearly 44 times as much electricity as it did in 1902’

 

They also have an interesting graph that shows electricity prices, luminous efficacy, manufacturing wages, and affordability index from the year 1900 to the year 2020.

 

 

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_pricing

2. https://www.energycouncil.com.au/analysis/electricity-prices-around-the-world-what-is-the-impact-of-renewable-charges/

3. https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/electricity_prices/

4. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/

5. https://www.iea.org/statistics/prices/

6. https://gobulk.com.au/australian-electricity-prices/

7. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/electricity-rates-around-the-world.html

8. https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/

9. https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/

10. https://www.energycouncil.com.au/analysis/worldwide-electricity-prices-how-does-australia-compare/

11. https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/policy/electricity-its-wonderfully-affordable-but-its-no-longer-getting-any-cheaper

12. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-07/study-shows-impact-wind-solar-gas-power-on-electricity-prices/10590876

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