Electricity (100 kWh) prices by country
Electricity (100 kWh) costs from $2.10 in Egypt to $45.50 in Ireland, across 48 countries priced in US dollars and in local currency.
A hundred kilowatt-hours is roughly what a small flat draws in a month, and what it costs ranges from under a dollar-fifty a week to the price of a restaurant meal. Almost none of that spread is the cost of generating the power. It is network charges, carbon and energy taxes, and in several countries a subsidy that holds the household tariff below what the grid actually spends.
The numbers
| Country | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | $2.10 | 107 EGP | 70 min |
| Nigeria | $3.80 | 5,082.3 NGN | 10.3 h |
| Saudi Arabia | $5.30 | 20 SAR | 27 min |
| Malaysia | $5.40 | 22.1 MYR | 85 min |
| Pakistan | $5.80 | 1,599 PKR | 11.6 h |
| Turkey | $5.80 | 280 TRY | 87 min |
| Bangladesh | $6.30 | 774.2 BDT | 9.8 h |
| India | $7.10 | 678 INR | 2.8 h |
| Vietnam | $7.80 | 205,000 VND | 2.8 h |
| China | $7.90 | 53.2 CNY | 86 min |
| United Arab Emirates | $8.00 | 29.3 AED | 32 min |
| Indonesia | $8.10 | 144,470 IDR | 3.7 h |
| Tanzania | $8.70 | 22,959 TZS | 8.1 h |
| Argentina | $10.30 | 15,415 ARS | 2.9 h |
| Canada | $12.20 | 16.9 CAD | 33 min |
| Mexico | $12.20 | 208.9 MXN | 3.0 h |
| Thailand | $12.20 | 403.6 THB | 3.5 h |
| Hungary | $12.30 | 3,895 HUF | 86 min |
| South Korea | $13.00 | 17,084 KRW | 56 min |
| Brazil | $18.10 | 92.1 BRL | 4.0 h |
| Costa Rica | $19.10 | 8,590.9 CRC | 3.0 h |
| Peru | $19.10 | 64.3 PEN | 5.8 h |
| Ghana | $19.30 | 212.8 GHS | 15.8 h |
| United States | $20.30 | 20.3 USD | 49 min |
| Norway | $21.00 | 197.3 NOK | 43 min |
| Philippines | $21.50 | 1,331.8 PHP | 10.6 h |
| Japan | $21.70 | 3,470.7 JPY | 81 min |
| Israel | $22.20 | 66.6 ILS | 65 min |
| New Zealand | $22.30 | 38 NZD | 61 min |
| Singapore | $23.50 | 30 SGD | 88 min |
| Poland | $24.50 | 91.4 PLN | 3.1 h |
| Portugal | $25.20 | 21.8 EUR | 2.8 h |
| Uruguay | $25.80 | 1,034.7 UYU | 3.4 h |
| Sweden | $26.30 | 251 SEK | 75 min |
| Netherlands | $26.60 | 23 EUR | 80 min |
| France | $27.10 | 23.4 EUR | 1.5 h |
| Colombia | $27.30 | 85,446.2 COP | 10.3 h |
| South Africa | $27.80 | 452.4 ZAR | 6.2 h |
| Australia | hidden, in play right now | ||
| Spain | $29.40 | 25.4 EUR | 2.4 h |
| Chile | $29.60 | 27,301.4 CLP | 4.7 h |
| Romania | $34.80 | 157.6 RON | 4.4 h |
| Czechia | $35.90 | 749.7 CZK | 3.3 h |
| Switzerland | $38.20 | 31 CHF | 67 min |
| Italy | $38.70 | 33.4 EUR | 2.8 h |
| Germany | $40.00 | 34.6 EUR | 1.8 h |
| United Kingdom | $43.00 | 31.8 GBP | 2.4 h |
| Ireland | $45.50 | 39.3 EUR | 2.3 h |
Source: GlobalPetrolPrices.com's residential electricity series, which includes the cost of power, distribution and transmission plus all taxes and fees. Published per kWh and stored here per 100 kWh. Full methodology.
What the spread shows
The cheapest electricity (100 kWh) in the game is in Egypt at $2.10; the most expensive is in Ireland at $45.50. That is a 21.7× difference for the same thing, against a median of $20.65 across all 48 countries.
Ranking by earnings instead of dollars rearranges the table. Ghana has the longest wait, about 15.8 hours of the average local wage, while in Saudi Arabia it is roughly 27 minutes. A country can look cheap in dollars and expensive in hours at the same time, and for most people the hours are what actually matter.