Changes in Electricity Prices Globally

2. Italy – US$0.455/kWh

Next up is Italy, with a household electricity cost in December 2023 of $0.455/kWh. Like Ireland, Italy’s household electricity cost has risen by 76% since 2020, which was an average of $0.258/kWh.

Italy’s reliance on Russian-imported natural gas led to a price increase when the Russian natural gas pipelines were blocked in 2022, leading to Algeria becoming Italy’s primary natural gas importer.

However, Italy’s domestic clean energy industry has boomed since 2018, with solar generation up by 37% and wind generation up by 34%.⁶

Italy’s hydro power facilities have also seen a rise in output, accounting for 15% of total electricity output in 2023. Though, this output has been volatile, as the 2022 droughts in Italy led to domestic hydro generation temporarily dropping throughout the year.⁷

3. Belgium – US$0.416/kWh

Third on our list is Belgium, reaching a household electricity cost of $0.416/kWh in December 2023. Unlike Ireland and Italy, Belgium’s electricity prices have been steadily rising since around 2015, with the 2023 price being a 36% increase from those in 2020, which sat at an average of $0.305/kWh.

Following a long-term plan to decommission domestic nuclear power plants, Belgium has had an increasing reliance on expensive, imported fossil fuels, with domestic nuclear power generation dropping by 6% between 2022 and 2023.^8,9,10

At the same time, Belgium’s electricity price is further boosted by domestic value-added taxes (VAT), which reached 21% in 2023 before the Belgian Federal Government intervened and reached agreements to undertake a series of energy reforms aimed at reducing energy taxes.¹¹

Belgium has consistently ranked in the top five most expensive countries household electricity for every data breakpoint in our research, starting as the most expensive at $0.141/kWh in 1980.

4. United Kingdom – US$0.403/kWh

Coming in at fourth is the United Kingdom, with a household electricity price of $0.403/kWh in December 2023, a 57% increase over their 2020 price, which was an average of $0.256/kWh.

The UK has suffered the brunt of an unfortunate series of events through the 2020s. Extreme cold weather throughout April and continuing into May of 2021 depleted the UK’s natural gas stockpiles, forcing importers to scramble and import the necessary natural gas. This was amid an already booming Europe-wide natural gas demand due to COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, which led to wholesale prices rising drastically, even reaching a 298% increase for the period August – September 2021 within the United Kingdom.¹²

Simultaneously, with China undergoing a growing interest in Europe’s natural gas, higher competition combined with a dwindled natural gas supply as a result of the tariffs placed on Russia has resulted in these soaring wholesale prices.

These increasingly high costs had a substantial knock-on effect on the UK’s domestic energy market, with 31 energy companies halting their energy trade since the beginning of 2021 due to the unprofitable market.¹³

Additionally, in 2021 a major power cable that supplies the UK with electricity directly from France was taken offline when it caught ablaze, further piling on the pressure for the nation’s energy supplies.¹⁴ Fortunately, starting in January 2023, this cable was finally restored at full capacity.¹⁵

5. Germany – US$0.401/kWh

Finally, the country with the fifth most expensive household electricity is Germany at $0.401/kWh in December 2023, barely edging out its average 2020 price of $0.386/kWh with a 4% increase

Germany has a similar story to the UK and many of other European countries. Coming out of COVID-19 restrictions put a strain on European energy demand and wholesale prices, as well as the Russian supply halting, forcing Germany to look toward Norway as their key natural gas supplier.¹⁶

Germany has been a world leader in wind power investment, maintaining the largest onshore wind capacity in Europe and placing third worldwide, behind only China and the United States.¹⁷

This heavy focus on cleaner energy is not without a cost. The German Government’s efforts to decommission the nation’s domestic nuclear power plants by 2022 while increasing clean energy output led to hefty renewables surcharges and taxations on top of Germany’s household electric bills, at a rate of 20% as of 2021.¹⁸

The Federal Government of Germany reversed their decision and stepped in to abolish this surcharge as wholesale gas prices spiked in 2022, leading to the low increase between 2020 and 2023. Unfortunately, this surcharge slash came at the same time as a 3.6% increase in grid fees – which are estimated to continue rising.¹⁹

2. Hungary – US$0.109/kWh

Hungary comes in tied for second cheapest household electricity with Mexico at $0.109/kWh in December 2023. The reason Hungary just barely edged Mexico out to formally take second place is because the price is a 13% decrease since the average price in 2020 ($0.126/kWh), compared to Mexico’s 28% increase.

Through the early 2010s, the cost of Hungarian household electricity had reached a height of $0.219/kWh. Concurrently, the Hungarian unemployment rate reached a peak of 11.17%, the highest the nation had seen since 1993.²⁴ As well, Hungarian households were tied to a 7.3 trillion HUF (Hungarian Forint) (approximately $32 billion) debt tied to foreign-currency loans, mostly in the form of Swiss francs.²⁵

This immense debt (equal to about 28 percent of Hungary’s GDP) in combination with all-time high household electricity bills and high level of unemployment meant that for many households, the payment of typical utility bills became difficult; with a quarter of households in 2013 having arrears on utilities.²⁶

In response, the Government of Hungary introduced the Utility Price Cap Scheme, aiming to permanently reduce the strain on Hungarian households by reducing residential electricity costs. In a three-step plan implemented between 2013 and 2014, household electricity prices fell by around 23%.

Since this scheme was implemented, the Hungarian government has successfully kept it in place, ensuring Hungary’s residential sector consistently pays among the lowest in Europe for electricity, with Budapest in particular being the European capital with the second cheapest residential electricity, losing out only to Serbia’s Belgrade.²⁷

3. Mexico – US$0.109/kWh

Mexico also comes in second for cheapest household electricity prices at $0.109/kWh in December 2023 but falls just behind Hungary due to a 28% increase in the prices since 2020’s average price of $0.085/kWh.

Mexico benefits heavily from being neighbours to the natural gas behemoth of the United States. Being one of the top gas importers in the world, Mexico and the United States have a long-held history of natural gas trade, with gas imports increasing by 400% since 2011.^28,29 This gas partnership has allowed Mexico to dodge the wholesale energy instability wreaking havoc throughout Europe.

The stability of this partnership is an important one while Mexico is still in the infancy of its renewable energy infrastructure. Mexico is widely regarded as one of the countries with the highest potential for solar and wind generation in the world.³⁰ As of the time of writing, clean energy only comprised 12% of Mexico’s energy generation in 2023, behind the global average of 13%.³¹

However, Mexico’s recently elected president, Claudia Sheinbaum, outlined plans to invest $13.57 billion into renewable energy projects through to 2030 as part of her presidential campaign – specifying a generation goal of 13.66GW. As these projects bear fruit, the generation potential of Mexico will hopefully bring domestic household prices even lower.³²

4. Canada – US$0.124/kWh

The fourth cheapest country is Canada at a rate of $0.124/kWh in December 2023, boasting only a 15% growth since 2020’s average rate of $0.108/kWh.

Throughout our data points, Canada consistently landed around fifth place for cheapest household power, which is largely due to their long-term investment in hydropower.³³ 

Canada’s investment into hydroelectricity stations goes back as far as 1891, so it’s no surprise that hydro power comprised 58% of Canada’s total power generation in 2023, placing themselves in third globally for highest yearly hydroelectricity generation, behind China and Brazil.^34,35

This pre-established hydro power infrastructure allows Canada to keep their household power bills low; a low dependence on the constantly shifting wholesale fossil fuel market grants them higher energy independence than most other countries.

Unfortunately, as Canada’s electricity requirements increase, current hydroelectricity infrastructure cannot keep up, leading to a 3% increase in fossil-fuel based electricity generation from 2021 to 2023.³⁶

Additionally, as coal-based generation gets phased out, natural gas imports from United States, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Nigeria are bound to further increase until clean energy generation infrastructure is further expanded to handle the increased requirement, contributing to a slowly increasing household power cost.³⁷

5. South Korea – US$0.131/kWh

Finally, the fifth cheapest country for household electricity prices is Korea at $0.131/kWh in December 2023, a 14% increase over their average 2020 price of $0.115/kWh.

South Korea’s cheap household energy can be mostly attributed to two key factors. First, Korea’s established nuclear power plants provided 29% of the nation’s yearly electricity in 2023. While established, the nuclear power plants provide relatively cheap domestic power. Obviously, this can come with domestic risks, like during 2011 when several reactors were shut down due to failures.³⁸

Regardless, South Korea is currently at an all-time high for net nuclear power generation capacity at 25,825MWe.³⁹

Outside of nuclear power, South Korea is heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels, accounting for 62% of their total electricity generation in 2023. Normally, this would mean that South Korea is susceptible to market fluctuations, as they are primarily importing from Australia ($11.5 billion in coal, $13.1 billion in natural gas) and Russia ($4.62 billion in coal).^40,41 However, due to the South Korean government being a majority shareholder of the country’s largest electric utility corporation, the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), political factors and subsidies are able to keep the price relatively low.⁴²

Note: Unavailable data points marked with *.