What Is the Price of Electricity Around the World?

By Cormac Breen

Content Manager

Cormac is Selectra.ie's energy expert along with being the chief content and editorial manager for the website. His aim is to help find the best deal for you and your home energy needs so that you save money on your annual bills. His knowledge and experience of the Irish energy market allows him to offer the best advice and insight into current prices, emerging trends and overall energy saving tips.

The price of electricity varies greatly from one country to another, ranging from 0.0066€/kWh (Turkmenistan) to 0.4100€/kWh (Bermuda). In Ireland, it is set at 0.3736€/kWh, determined by the CRU, above the global average of 0.15€/kWh. In this article, we are looking for a link between the price of a kWh of electricity, market privitisation, and the quality of service.

The price shown, measured by Selectra in April 2025 and updated every six months, shows what a typical home in a capital city would pay for electricity. It's based on the cost of the 300th kilowatt-hour (kWh) used in a month, reflecting a standard home's electricity usage.

Which Country Has the Cheapest Electricity Prices in the World?

The countries with the cheapest electricity in the world are Turkmenistan (0.66 cents per kWh), Sudan (0.7 cents per kWh) and Bahrain (0.74 cents per kWh). However, it is better to look for the countries where electricity is the cheapest and where power cuts are rare.

In this case, top 3 are Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. These are countries where the population is accustomed to almost free energy, and the state subsidizes the price of electricity. This is the opposite of Ireland, where taxes account for at least 25% of the kWh price!

In Europe, the countries with the cheapest electricity are Turkey, Ukraine and Georgia

How Does Ireland Compare on the Price of Electricity?

With a price of 0.3736c per kWh in April 2025, Ireland ranks 154th out of 156 countries studied. In Europe, the most expensive country is Germany with a price of 0.3951c, almost double our price.

Ireland ranks 41st out of 43 in Europe for its kWh price, with a continental average of 0.21c per kWh.

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Electricity Prices Around the World by Continent

We take the average of the national prices of the continents. Continents correspond to the United Nations' definition, so Central America is included in North America. Asia has the cheapest electricity because it includes most of the oil and gas producers (Gulf countries and Central Asia) where electricity is very cheap.

In contrast, Europe, which imports almost all its oil and gas, along with high taxes, has the most expensive electricity, above 20 cents per kWh.

Electricity Prices Around the World and Deregulation

We have classified the countries in this study as "public" and "private". Partially deregulated countries are considered privatised (United States, Canada).

We observe that prices are about twice as high in countries with a deregulated electricity sector.

At first glance, this doesn't really support privitisation. However, several factors influence this finding.

First, countries with privitised electricity markets are primarily rich countries (EU, USA, Canada, Japan, Singapore) and are not affected by power outages, In contrast, this problem affects most countries with a state owned electricity industry.

Electricity Prices Around the World and Power Cuts

Among the 10 countries with the cheapest electricity in the world, 9 experience frequent power cuts. Service quality is clearly correlated with the price of the kWh.

In the table below, we see that the price of electricity is 50% higher in countries with good service quality than in countries suffering from frequent power outages.

To classify the countries, we conducted qualitative research to list countries where power outages affect all residential customers at least four times a year. Among the 156 countries analysed, 93 have network stability issues, which is 60%.

It is hard not to see behind this finding a difference between rich countries with deregulated electricity industries where electricity is expensive and reliable, and poor state owned electricity countries, where electricity is a bit cheaper but the service is unstable.

A point that is striking when studying disparities between countries is the arbitrary setting of electricity prices by the states.

In almost all countries suffering from frequent outages, these are attributed to a lack of supply, due to a price or conditions that prevent the development of new production capacities.

By Cormac Breen

Content Manager

Cormac is Selectra.ie's energy expert along with being the chief content and editorial manager for the website. His aim is to help find the best deal for you and your home energy needs so that you save money on your annual bills. His knowledge and experience of the Irish energy market allows him to offer the best advice and insight into current prices, emerging trends and overall energy saving tips.