Global electricity price map

Hover any country to see its current residential price in NZD/kWh. Colours run from green (cheapest) to red (most expensive), bucketed by global quintile so each band contains roughly 20 % of countries.

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Price (NZD/kWh): < 0.12 0.12 – 0.22 0.22 – 0.35 0.35 – 0.46 ≥ 0.46 No data

Methodology: residential 5 kVA connection, cost of the 300th kWh consumed in the capital city, converted from EUR to NZD at the daily reference rate. Refreshed half-yearly. Iran, North Korea, and Syria are excluded due to lack of published data.

How does New Zealand compare globally?

At 0.35 NZD/kWh, New Zealand ranks around the middle of the world scale. That is roughly 16.5% above the global average of 0.30 NZD/kWh.

The reason is not inefficiency — it is the energy mix. About 85 % of New Zealand's electricity comes from renewables (hydro, geothermal, wind). Clean generation keeps long-term costs stable, but maintaining hydro dams, geothermal fields, and the long transmission lines that connect them adds a baseline cost that fossil-fuel grids do not always carry.

Countries that beat New Zealand on price almost always rely on subsidised fossil fuels, state-owned utilities, or both. The trade-off is reliability and emissions. New Zealand's grid records fewer than 2 hours of outage per customer per year — a figure most of the cheapest markets in the table below cannot match.

Electricity prices by continent: the highs and the lows

Every continent has its own price ceiling — and the reasons rarely repeat. Below, the most expensive country in each region, expressed in NZD/kWh, with the structural factors that push the bill up.

🌏 Oceania

Most expensive: Australia

0.36 NZD/kWh

▲ +3.0 % higher than New Zealand.

Australia still relies on coal and gas for the bulk of generation, on top of one of the longest transmission networks in the world. Network charges, ageing assets, and the cost of integrating utility-scale renewables and storage all flow through to retail bills.

Cheapest in Oceania

  • Papua New Guinea 0.32 NZD/kWh
  • New Zealand 0.35 NZD/kWh
  • Australia 0.36 NZD/kWh

🌍 Europe

Most expensive: Germany

0.78 NZD/kWh

▲ +126.2 % higher than New Zealand.

Germany's residential bill carries some of the heaviest taxes and renewable-funding levies in the world. The phase-out of nuclear, the shift away from Russian gas, and the cost of rewiring the grid for wind and solar (the Energiewende) all sit on the consumer invoice.

Cheapest in Europe

  • Turkey 0.10 NZD/kWh
  • Ukraine 0.11 NZD/kWh
  • Georgia 0.14 NZD/kWh

🌏 Asia

Most expensive: Lebanon

0.69 NZD/kWh

▲ +100.3 % higher than New Zealand.

Lebanon's national grid runs only a few hours a day. Most households fall back on private diesel generators that charge several times the official tariff. The currency collapse has compounded the cost of importing fuel and spare parts.

Cheapest in Asia

  • Turkmenistan 0.01 NZD/kWh
  • Bahrain 0.01 NZD/kWh
  • Kuwait 0.03 NZD/kWh

🌎 North America

Most expensive: Bermuda

0.81 NZD/kWh

▲ +134.7 % higher than New Zealand.

Bermuda imports all its diesel and oil for generation, then passes the cost straight to customers through a fuel adjustment clause. A tiny population means generation and grid costs are spread over very few bills, and hurricane resilience adds capital expenditure that larger markets can dilute.

Cheapest in North America

  • Trinidad & Tobago 0.09 NZD/kWh
  • Mexico 0.09 NZD/kWh
  • Dominican Republic 0.21 NZD/kWh

🌎 South America

Most expensive: Chile

0.48 NZD/kWh

▲ +37.4 % higher than New Zealand.

Chile combines imported gas and coal with a long, narrow grid that has to reach mining regions in the north and remote populations in the south. Recurring droughts cut hydropower output, forcing more expensive thermal plants online, while heavy investment in new solar and storage capacity is recovered through retail tariffs.

Cheapest in South America

  • Paraguay 0.08 NZD/kWh
  • Suriname 0.12 NZD/kWh
  • Argentina 0.17 NZD/kWh

🌍 Africa

Most expensive: Comoros

0.69 NZD/kWh

▲ +100.3 % higher than New Zealand.

Comoros depends almost entirely on imported diesel shipped to its small island grid; outages are frequent and replacement parts must be paid for in foreign currency.

Cheapest in Africa

  • Sudan 0.01 NZD/kWh
  • Angola 0.02 NZD/kWh
  • Ethiopia 0.03 NZD/kWh

Average electricity price by continent

Continent averages do not weight by population — Bermuda counts the same as the United States in North America's mean. Read them as a regional thermometer, not a household quote.

Average residential electricity price by continent, NZD per kWh, updated May 2026.
Continent Average (NZD/kWh) vs. New Zealand
Asia 0.18 NZD/kWh ▼ -47.9 %
South America 0.26 NZD/kWh ▼ -25.6 %
Africa 0.26 NZD/kWh ▼ -23.9 %
Oceania 0.34 NZD/kWh ▼ -1.5 %
North America 0.39 NZD/kWh ▲ +12.8 %
Europe 0.41 NZD/kWh ▲ +18.5 %

Following the UN definition, Central American countries are grouped with North America. Asia averages out lowest because several large producers (Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkmenistan) sell electricity below cost as part of broader hydrocarbon policy.

What drives price: market structure and grid reliability

Two structural traits explain most of the price gap between countries: whether the retail market is open to competition, and whether the grid is reliable enough that customers can ignore the backup generator. Both push prices up — for different reasons.

Liberalised markets cost about 1.9× more

Liberalised
0.48 NZD/kWh
State-controlled
0.25 NZD/kWh

Open markets — New Zealand, Australia, most of the EU, the US, Canada — fund their grids from retail tariffs without state subsidies. That makes the headline price higher, but it also means the system pays for itself, invests in renewables, and rarely sees a blackout. State-controlled markets often subsidise the kilowatt-hour to keep it politically affordable, which holds prices low but starves infrastructure of investment.

Reliable grids cost about 1.5× more

Rare outages
0.37 NZD/kWh
Frequent outages
0.25 NZD/kWh

Of the ten cheapest countries in the world, nine experience frequent power cuts. The reverse is true at the top of the ranking: the most expensive markets are also the most stable. What looks like a discount on the kWh quote often masks the hidden cost of a diesel generator, an inverter, or a battery — paid for outside the electricity bill.

Cheapest countries with reliable supply

Most "cheap electricity" rankings ignore the fact that the lowest tariffs come with daily blackouts. Filter the table for countries that combine low prices and a stable grid, and the leaderboard changes completely.

# Country Price (NZD/kWh) Continent
1 Bahrain BH 0.01 NZD/kWh Asia
2 Qatar QA 0.07 NZD/kWh Asia
3 Oman OM 0.07 NZD/kWh Asia
4 Turkey TR 0.10 NZD/kWh Europe
5 Azerbaijan AZ 0.11 NZD/kWh Asia

Electricity prices in every country

All 156 countries with a published residential tariff, sorted from cheapest to most expensive. Prices are converted from EUR to NZD at the daily rate. Iran, North Korea, and Syria are excluded because no reliable published data is available.

Show all 156 countries
Residential electricity prices for every country surveyed, in NZD per kWh.
# Country Price (NZD/kWh)
1 Turkmenistan TM 0.01 NZD/kWh
2 Sudan SD 0.01 NZD/kWh
3 Bahrain BH 0.01 NZD/kWh
4 Angola AO 0.02 NZD/kWh
5 Ethiopia ET 0.03 NZD/kWh
6 Kuwait KW 0.03 NZD/kWh
7 Egypt EG 0.06 NZD/kWh
8 Bhutan BT 0.06 NZD/kWh
9 Uzbekistan UZ 0.06 NZD/kWh
10 Tajikistan TJ 0.06 NZD/kWh
11 Qatar QA 0.07 NZD/kWh
12 Algeria DZ 0.07 NZD/kWh
13 Oman OM 0.07 NZD/kWh
14 Congo - Kinshasa CD 0.07 NZD/kWh
15 Nepal NP 0.08 NZD/kWh
16 Kyrgyzstan KG 0.08 NZD/kWh
17 São Tomé & Príncipe ST 0.08 NZD/kWh
18 Paraguay PY 0.08 NZD/kWh
19 Laos LA 0.09 NZD/kWh
20 Trinidad & Tobago TT 0.09 NZD/kWh
21 Saudi Arabia SA 0.09 NZD/kWh
22 Kazakhstan KZ 0.09 NZD/kWh
23 Mexico MX 0.09 NZD/kWh
24 Zambia ZM 0.10 NZD/kWh
25 Turkey TR 0.10 NZD/kWh
26 Afghanistan AF 0.10 NZD/kWh
27 Azerbaijan AZ 0.11 NZD/kWh
28 Ukraine UA 0.11 NZD/kWh
29 Malawi MW 0.11 NZD/kWh
30 United Arab Emirates AE 0.11 NZD/kWh
31 Suriname SR 0.12 NZD/kWh
32 Bangladesh BD 0.12 NZD/kWh
33 Pakistan PK 0.12 NZD/kWh
34 Sierra Leone SL 0.14 NZD/kWh
35 Mongolia MN 0.14 NZD/kWh
36 Georgia GE 0.14 NZD/kWh
37 Belarus BY 0.14 NZD/kWh
38 Madagascar MG 0.14 NZD/kWh
39 China CN 0.15 NZD/kWh
40 Russia RU 0.15 NZD/kWh
41 India IN 0.15 NZD/kWh
42 Taiwan TW 0.15 NZD/kWh
43 Zimbabwe ZW 0.16 NZD/kWh
44 Malaysia MY 0.16 NZD/kWh
45 Bosnia & Herzegovina BA 0.16 NZD/kWh
46 Iceland IS 0.16 NZD/kWh
47 Albania AL 0.17 NZD/kWh
48 Argentina AR 0.17 NZD/kWh
49 Ecuador EC 0.18 NZD/kWh
50 Lesotho LS 0.18 NZD/kWh
51 Indonesia ID 0.18 NZD/kWh
52 North Macedonia MK 0.18 NZD/kWh
53 Ghana GH 0.18 NZD/kWh
54 Botswana BW 0.18 NZD/kWh
55 Peru PE 0.20 NZD/kWh
56 Armenia AM 0.20 NZD/kWh
57 Dominican Republic DO 0.21 NZD/kWh
58 Hungary HU 0.22 NZD/kWh
59 Vietnam VN 0.22 NZD/kWh
60 Côte d’Ivoire CI 0.22 NZD/kWh
61 Macao SAR China MO 0.22 NZD/kWh
62 South Africa ZA 0.22 NZD/kWh
63 Morocco MA 0.22 NZD/kWh
64 Cuba CU 0.24 NZD/kWh
65 Nigeria NG 0.24 NZD/kWh
66 Tunisia TN 0.24 NZD/kWh
67 Cameroon CM 0.24 NZD/kWh
68 Tanzania TZ 0.24 NZD/kWh
69 Canada CA 0.24 NZD/kWh
70 Mozambique MZ 0.24 NZD/kWh
71 Thailand TH 0.24 NZD/kWh
72 Serbia RS 0.24 NZD/kWh
73 Eswatini SZ 0.24 NZD/kWh
74 Bolivia BO 0.24 NZD/kWh
75 Malta MT 0.26 NZD/kWh
76 Maldives MV 0.26 NZD/kWh
77 South Korea KR 0.26 NZD/kWh
78 Myanmar (Burma) MM 0.26 NZD/kWh
79 Namibia NA 0.26 NZD/kWh
80 Bulgaria BG 0.26 NZD/kWh
81 Cambodia KH 0.28 NZD/kWh
82 Panama PA 0.28 NZD/kWh
83 Mauritania MR 0.28 NZD/kWh
84 Brazil BR 0.28 NZD/kWh
85 Croatia HR 0.30 NZD/kWh
86 Israel IL 0.30 NZD/kWh
87 Jordan JO 0.32 NZD/kWh
88 Sri Lanka LK 0.32 NZD/kWh
89 Philippines PH 0.32 NZD/kWh
90 Central African Republic CF 0.32 NZD/kWh
91 Papua New Guinea PG 0.32 NZD/kWh
92 Togo TG 0.34 NZD/kWh
93 Burkina Faso BF 0.34 NZD/kWh
94 New Zealand benchmark NZ 0.35 NZD/kWh
95 United States US 0.35 NZD/kWh
96 Hong Kong SAR China HK 0.36 NZD/kWh
97 Aruba AW 0.36 NZD/kWh
98 Uruguay UY 0.36 NZD/kWh
99 Australia AU 0.36 NZD/kWh
100 Gambia GM 0.36 NZD/kWh
101 Romania RO 0.37 NZD/kWh
102 Rwanda RW 0.38 NZD/kWh
103 Costa Rica CR 0.38 NZD/kWh
104 Colombia CO 0.38 NZD/kWh
105 Niger NE 0.38 NZD/kWh
106 Chad TD 0.38 NZD/kWh
107 Japan JP 0.38 NZD/kWh
108 Slovakia SK 0.38 NZD/kWh
109 Norway NO 0.40 NZD/kWh
110 Uganda UG 0.40 NZD/kWh
111 Belize BZ 0.40 NZD/kWh
112 Singapore SG 0.40 NZD/kWh
113 France FR 0.40 NZD/kWh
114 El Salvador SV 0.41 NZD/kWh
115 Moldova MD 0.42 NZD/kWh
116 Mauritius MU 0.42 NZD/kWh
117 Nicaragua NI 0.42 NZD/kWh
118 Gabon GA 0.42 NZD/kWh
119 Luxembourg LU 0.42 NZD/kWh
120 Poland PL 0.43 NZD/kWh
121 Slovenia SI 0.43 NZD/kWh
122 Greece GR 0.43 NZD/kWh
123 Guatemala GT 0.44 NZD/kWh
124 Mali ML 0.46 NZD/kWh
125 Honduras HN 0.46 NZD/kWh
126 Benin BJ 0.46 NZD/kWh
127 Kenya KE 0.46 NZD/kWh
128 Chile CL 0.48 NZD/kWh
129 Senegal SN 0.48 NZD/kWh
130 Lithuania LT 0.48 NZD/kWh
131 Portugal PT 0.48 NZD/kWh
132 Sweden SE 0.48 NZD/kWh
133 Spain ES 0.48 NZD/kWh
134 Finland FI 0.49 NZD/kWh
135 Barbados BB 0.50 NZD/kWh
136 Estonia EE 0.50 NZD/kWh
137 Latvia LV 0.50 NZD/kWh
138 Netherlands NL 0.53 NZD/kWh
139 Jamaica JM 0.56 NZD/kWh
140 Bahamas BS 0.56 NZD/kWh
141 Austria AT 0.57 NZD/kWh
142 Switzerland CH 0.57 NZD/kWh
143 Liechtenstein LI 0.57 NZD/kWh
144 United Kingdom UK 0.63 NZD/kWh
145 Cayman Islands KY 0.63 NZD/kWh
146 Cyprus CY 0.64 NZD/kWh
147 Italy IT 0.65 NZD/kWh
148 Cape Verde CV 0.67 NZD/kWh
149 Czechia CZ 0.67 NZD/kWh
150 Belgium BE 0.69 NZD/kWh
151 Lebanon LB 0.69 NZD/kWh
152 Comoros KM 0.69 NZD/kWh
153 Denmark DK 0.73 NZD/kWh
154 Ireland IE 0.74 NZD/kWh
155 Germany DE 0.78 NZD/kWh
156 Bermuda BM 0.81 NZD/kWh

Methodology: residential 5 kVA connection, cost of the 300th kWh consumed in the capital city, converted EUR → NZD on the meter-reading day. Prices refreshed half-yearly. Last refresh: .

The headline price does not equal the total energy cost

International electricity rankings are typically built from a single number: the published kWh tariff in the capital city. That number is honest, but it hides three structural distortions that change how much a household actually spends on energy each year.

  • 1 Subsidies travel under the rug. Many low-tariff countries — Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt — sell electricity below cost. The gap is paid through national budgets funded by hydrocarbon exports. When oil revenue drops, the subsidy thins and the tariff jumps, which is why "cheap" markets are also the most volatile over a decade.
  • 2 Outage costs sit outside the bill. In Lebanon, the official kWh price looks European. The real cost — including the private diesel generator most households share with their building — is two to four times higher. Comparisons that use only the public utility tariff systematically underestimate the cost of unreliable grids.
  • 3 Tax structure shifts the comparison. Germany's bill is roughly half taxes and renewable levies. New Zealand's is roughly a quarter network and policy charges. Two countries can show similar wholesale generation costs and still produce very different consumer prices, simply because of how energy policy is funded.

For New Zealand consumers, the practical takeaway is narrower than it looks: comparing the local retail bill against an overseas tariff is informative only if both numbers include the same taxes, subsidies, and reliability assumptions. In most published comparisons, they do not.

Electricity rates NZ 2026

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Frequently asked questions about global electricity prices

Which country has the cheapest electricity in the world?
Turkmenistan currently publishes the lowest residential tariff at 0.01 NZD/kWh. The price is heavily subsidised through national hydrocarbon revenue, and frequent blackouts mean the headline figure does not reflect the practical cost of keeping the lights on.
Which country has the most expensive electricity?
Bermuda tops the global ranking at 0.81 NZD/kWh. Small island grids that import all their fuel — like Bermuda, Comoros, or the Solomon Islands — sit at the top of every league table because they cannot spread generation and transmission costs over a large customer base.
Why is New Zealand's electricity more expensive than the world average?
Three structural reasons. First, New Zealand's grid covers a long, mountainous country with a small population, so per-customer network costs are higher than in dense markets. Second, the system is liberalised — retailers fund the grid through tariffs rather than state subsidies. Third, hydro and geothermal generation is cheap to run but capital-intensive to maintain. The trade-off is reliability: New Zealand records fewer than two hours of outage per customer per year, well below most cheaper markets.
Do "cheap electricity" rankings include the cost of blackouts?
No — and that is the single biggest distortion in international comparisons. Nine of the ten cheapest countries in this dataset record frequent power cuts. The kWh from the public utility looks cheap on paper, but households routinely spend additional money on private generators, fuel, batteries, and inverters. Those costs sit outside the bill and outside most rankings.
How are these prices calculated?
Selectra collects the published residential tariff for a standard 5 kVA connection in each country's capital city, then takes the cost of the 300th kWh consumed in a month. Source values are quoted in euros and converted to NZD at the daily reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.9822 NZD. Prices are refreshed every six months from regulator publications and utility tariff schedules; the source link is included in the full country table.

See also: Electricity rates in Oceania · Low user vs Standard user in NZ.