Global Average Electricity Price
If we averaged out the electricity prices in every country in the world, we would arrive at 14.2 U.S. cents per kWh for household users and 12.7 U.S. cents per kWh for business users – the global average electricity price. The average U.S. electricity prices are 0.7 cents and 1.7 cents respectively lower – which means that our power is a tiny bit cheaper than the world’s average. Of course, this average electric price is composed of countries with a lot higher and a lot lower average price. Let us look at where electricity is the most expensive and the cheapest.
Countries With Most Expensive Electricity Prices
| Ranking | Country | Avg Electric Price (in U.S. cents per kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 39 |
| 2 | Bermuda | 37 |
| 3 | Denmark | 34 |
| 4 | Portugal | 32 |
| 5 | Belgium | 32 |
| 6 | Cayman Islands | 31 |
| 7 | Bahamas | 31 |
| 8 | Cape Verde | 30 |
| 9 | Ireland | 29 |
| 10 | Japan | 29 |
| 11 | Cyprus | 28 |
| 12 | Barbados | 28 |
| 13 | United Kingdom | 27 |
| 14 | Italy | 27 |
| 15 | Liechtenstein | 27 |
| 16 | Australia | 26 |
| 17 | Luxemburg | 26 |
| 18 | Rwanda | 26 |
| 19 | Austria | 25 |
| 20 | Jamaica | 25 |
Germany and Bermuda hold the unpopular title of countries with the most expensive electricity for very different reasons. In Germany, a complex web of politically determined taxes, levies, and surcharges make up nearly half of the price that residential customers pay and as a result, German electricity prices more than doubled over the past twenty years.
Bermuda must import most of its electricity in the form of cooking gas, car gasoline, and oil, making them susceptible to high import duties. As a tiny island of mere 21 square miles, any attempt at producing electricity at home results too expensive with no economies of scale possible.
Countries With the Least Expensive Electricity Prices
| Ranking | Country | Avg Electric Price (in U.S. cents per kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sudan | 0 |
| 2 | Venezuela | 0 |
| 3 | Iran | 0 |
| 4 | Ethiopia | 1 |
| 5 | Kyrgyzstan | 1 |
| 6 | Cuba | 1 |
| 7 | Libya | 1 |
| 8 | Zimbabwe | 1 |
| 9 | Bhutan | 2 |
| 10 | Angola | 2 |
| 11 | Suriname | 2 |
| 12 | Uzbekistan | 3 |
| 13 | Zambia | 3 |
| 14 | Iraq | 3 |
| 15 | Kuwait | 3 |
| 16 | Qatar | 3 |
| 17 | Oman | 3 |
| 18 | Algeria | 4 |
| 19 | Egypt | 4 |
| 20 | Kazakhstan | 4 |
You probably spotted a few well-known oil producers in the table with the cheapest electricity countries, most notably Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar. Thanks to the great crude oil reserves and the status of energy exporters, these countries benefit from massive economies of scale, allowing them to enjoy some of the cheapest electricity prices in the world.
That of course raises the question of whether such low prices, resulting from the overreliance on non-renewable, dirty sources like oil are a positive thing and what is their long-term consequence for the world.
