Global electricity retail prices – quick heads-up please

150 18

Best answers

What do residential electricity tariffs currently cost in different countries and regions?

Electricity retail prices vary widely, and fixed charges can be as important as the per-kWh rate. In Alabama, the residential rate is a $14.50 monthly base charge plus $0.102269/kWh for the first 750 kWh and $0.090269/kWh above that [#21682097][#21682099] In Australia, one user reported a A$127/month supply charge plus A$0.31/kWh for most usage and A$0.15/kWh on a special tariff [#21682103] In Ontario, one winter bill showed on-peak/mid-peak/off-peak energy at $0.132/$0.094/$0.065 per kWh, plus $35.56 delivery and other charges, totaling $94.93 CAD [#21682107] In New Zealand, the typical structure was about NZ$1.00 per day fixed plus NZ$0.23 per unit, with a NZ$0.08 per unit solar credit [#21682108] Washington State’s example was a $9 monthly basic charge plus tiered electric rates from 7.533¢ to 10.276¢ per kWh, while South Sudan was cited at about $0.50/kWh from a diesel generator and only running part of the time [#21682112][#21682113]

Generated by the language model.

Report a violation of the law

Reply | New topic

#1 21682096 05 Mar 2019 16:51

Alan Winstanley Alan Winstanley

Anonymous

Post #1
21682096 05 Mar 2019 16:51

I'm hoping to take a snapshot of electricity prices around the world and would really appreciate a quick post with your current electricity tariffs wherever you are.For comparison Britain has been hit with huge rises over the past year due to increased wholesale prices and my own electric bill has jumped a good 30% or more. So I'm paying 16.2 pence per kWh (US$ 0.22 per kWh) for electric and 3.6 pence per kWh (US$0.047) for gas.Addition is PLN86 per year 'standing charges' for meter rental. In Britain we're no longer tied to the local monopoly power co. and can switch national suppliers to get a better rate but they are all broadly the same (ish).So how much do you pay for electricity folks? Thanks!
ADVERTISEMENT
#2 21682097 05 Mar 2019 19:10

Rick Curl Rick Curl

Anonymous

Post #2
21682097 05 Mar 2019 19:10

Hi Alan-The residential rate here in Alabama is as follows:
Base charge: $14.50
First 750 KWH: $0.102269/KWH
Over 750 KWH: $0.090269/KWHDo you need the commercial rate too?
-Rick
#3 21682098 05 Mar 2019 20:12

Alan Winstanley Alan Winstanley

Anonymous

Post #3
21682098 05 Mar 2019 20:12

Thanks Rick,Is the base charge a monthly one? (I just wanted to look at residential rates.)-- Alan W
#4 21682099 05 Mar 2019 20:30

Rick Curl Rick Curl

Anonymous

Post #4
21682099 05 Mar 2019 20:30

Unfortunately, yes.
It's not as bad as the base charge for water and sewer service, though.-Rick
ADVERTISEMENT
#5 21682100 05 Mar 2019 21:01

Max Maxfield Max Maxfield

Anonymous

Post #5
21682100 05 Mar 2019 21:01

Hi Alan -- I'm in Huntsville Alabama, about 90 miles north of Rick, who is near Birmingham Alabama. I'm not sure about the base charge Rick mentions -- on my bill from the utility company it's broken out into: Gas, Electric, Trash, and TaxFor electric, last month's bill was $158.91 for 1555KWH = ~$0.10 per KWHFor gas, last month's bill was $157.24 for 16600 CUF = ~$0.0095 per CUF (I'm assuming CUF stands for "cubic feet") but I have no idea how that relates to KWH
#6 21682101 05 Mar 2019 22:11

Alan Winstanley Alan Winstanley

Anonymous

Post #6
21682101 05 Mar 2019 22:11

Hi Max, Hmm, you have to buy everything from one utility supplier? We get to choose energy suppliers on an open market, but water/drainage/ sewage and trash are supplied by the local authorities. Hence my electricity & gas is bought from EDF (Électricité de France), believe it or not. You can even swap tariffs automatically to the cheapest using a service like Weflip.
I rushed outside to look, my gas meter displays in ft³ as well, which EDF converts to kWh as follows:
no. ft³ used × 2.83 × calorific value (39.4) × volume correction (1.02264) ÷ 3.6
so (my bill) 312 ft³ is 9882 kWh. The UK Gov't regs behind this calculation are here.
16,600 ft³ a month sounds a heckuva lot! (Are you running a steelworks? lol)
-- Alan W
#7 21682102 05 Mar 2019 23:55

Max Maxfield Max Maxfield

Anonymous

Post #7
21682102 05 Mar 2019 23:55

@Alan: "...Are you running a steelworks..."Well, the temperatures have been real cold and we use gas heating -- and a gas cook-top, but I think the big draw is the gas hot water heater because my son lives in his shower and my wife lives in her bath LOL
#8 21682103 06 Mar 2019 13:24

David Ashton David Ashton

Anonymous

Post #8
21682103 06 Mar 2019 13:24

Alan - I am in Australia and payA$ 127 per month "Supply charge" which is fixed per dayA$ 0.31 per KWH for most of my powerA$ 0.15 per KWH for about 10% of my power which is on a special tariffAt the moment the A$ is about 53 of your pence. So halve those figures for a rough comparison with GB Pounds.it is possible to get fairly good discounts (up to 25%) on usage rates, but most of them are time limited (mine were and they didn't tell me they'd expired) and various special tariffs exist depending on whether they can dump your load during peaks, etc.Hope this helps // Cheers // David
#9 21682104 06 Mar 2019 22:11

Alan Winstanley Alan Winstanley

Anonymous

Post #9
21682104 06 Mar 2019 22:11

Thanks David,Seems you're paying pretty much the same as UK prices for kWh but a AU$127 supply charge (or standing charge) per month seems very harsh, nearly 10 times more expensive than Britain.Thanks again Alan W
#10 21682105 06 Mar 2019 22:17

Alan Winstanley Alan Winstanley

Anonymous

Post #10
21682105 06 Mar 2019 22:17

If anyone's interested in power generation, 20 years ago I was the guest of National Power when I took apart a newly built 600MW CCGT gas-fired power station. I figured out the electricity production and distribution process from North Sea gas through to the mains outlet in our homes. It's based on UK supply architecture but is quite similar to other countries that use British-built plant. US systems are different.
I made a web-enabled version here http://www.epemag.net/electricity-generation1.html
They recently demolished it because it was too expensive to run, yet we have a bordlerline electricity shortfall in Britain. Then they demolished the 1GW plant next to it, as well.
-- Alan W
#11 21682106 07 Mar 2019 02:46

Rick Curl Rick Curl

Anonymous

Post #11
21682106 07 Mar 2019 02:46

That's a GREAT article, Alan. I want to read over it again when I get home. One thing that got my attention is the "Static Starting Device" on the stream turbines. I just assumed that when you turn on the steam they start to spin. Very interesting stuff!
-Rick
.
ADVERTISEMENT
#12 21682107 07 Mar 2019 06:56

Aubrey Kagan Aubrey Kagan

Anonymous

Post #12
21682107 07 Mar 2019 06:56

AlanGiving details on Ontario's billing could be difficult. It is possible to sign a contract for a fixed price over a period of years although there are fixed overheads like "delivery" and perhaps some others. There is also the option of equal billing- where there is a kind of averaging based on historical data to cover the heavy usage during summer months where the air conditioners kick in. I know it may be hard to believe to some, but Toronto can sit at 30-35 deg C for days at a time in the summer. Heating, water heaters are on natural gas, but our stove/oven is electric as is the circulatory fan in the central heating/cooling. You can also get load shedding, but I am unsure as to the cost implication, other than you don't use electricity at the peak rate.
At any rate this is our last bill we received. We have not opted for any of the above and so we pay the spot rate. Winter On-Peak, 122.09kWh @$0.132 $16.12Winter Mid-Peak, 86.44kWh @$0.094 $8.13Winter Off-Peak, 427.48kWh @$0.065 $27.79Delivery $35.56Regulatory $2.82 (I think this is paying off the utility's debt)Total $90.42Add to that a sales tax of $11.75, and then a rebate of 8% 7.24 credit (to buy our votes in the last election) gives a total of $94.93The Canadian dollar at the moment trades at US$0.75 so in US$ we pay about $71 in winter months.in GBP (0.57) that is just over 54 pounds.
#13 21682108 07 Mar 2019 08:26

Richard Gabric Richard Gabric

Anonymous

Post #13
21682108 07 Mar 2019 08:26

I'm in New Zealand. Most power here is hydro, with some wind and solar on a small scale. Coal and gas for peak.We have a fixed charge of around NZ$1.00 per dayUser charge of around NZ$0.23 a unit.We get NZ$0.08 a unit credit for solar off our roof.There is some variation on these figures, depending on peak hour usage, contractual period, dual metering for ripple control. etc.Power distribution and retail sales are deregulated, there are a number of companies competing for customers, and some are involved in gas and internet distribution as well.Cheers,Richard
#14 21682109 07 Mar 2019 19:03

PeterTraneus Anderson PeterTraneus Anderson

Anonymous

Post #14
21682109 07 Mar 2019 19:03

The static starting device is needed for the GAS turbines.
#15 21682110 07 Mar 2019 20:48

Alan Winstanley Alan Winstanley

Anonymous

Post #15
21682110 07 Mar 2019 20:48

Thanks Aubrey and Richard for your figures. Fascinating to see the variances in unit cost and standing (fixed) charges! I'm surprised how pricey the fixed costs are in some countries .Cheers -- Alan W
ADVERTISEMENT
#16 21682111 08 Mar 2019 01:59

Rick Curl Rick Curl

Anonymous

Post #16
21682111 08 Mar 2019 01:59

Thanks, Peter. I realized that when I read through the article again last night. It makes more sense now.-Rick
#17 21682112 09 Mar 2019 07:24

Elizabeth Simon Elizabeth Simon

Anonymous

Post #17
21682112 09 Mar 2019 07:24

For Washington State (from my power company's web site)Electric:MONTHLY RATE:
$9.00 Basic Charge, plus
First 800 kWh     7.533¢ per kWh
Next 700 kWh     8.765¢ per kWh
All over 1500 kWh 10.276¢ per kWh
Minimum Charge : $9.00Natural Gas:
MONTHLY RATE: Per Meter Per Month
Basic Charge $9.50
Charge Per Therm: First 70      Over 70Base Rate                   0.36723$ (R)    0.47729$ (R)Billing Rate          0.65426$ (R)    0.76432$ (R)
Minimum Charge: $9.50On the natural gas, I'm not sure what rate I'm payingThere is a conversion between Cubic feet (what is actually metered) and Therms (what is billed) but I'm not sure what that is since it depends on the energy content of the gas.
#18 21682113 19 Mar 2019 21:18

Edward Chase Edward Chase

Anonymous

Post #18
21682113 19 Mar 2019 21:18

We are all lucky. In the South Sudanese town where I do charity work it's around $0.50 a unit and only runs 1/4 of the time. That is from a town diesel generator . No county wide grid there or mains gas. I get involved in installing solar systems so they have an alternative to this $0.50 and to cover outages.
#19 21682114 19 Mar 2019 21:38

Alan Winstanley Alan Winstanley

Anonymous

Post #19
21682114 19 Mar 2019 21:38

Thanks (Elizabeth and Edward) for details of the tariffs paid. Yes, we don't know how lucky we are - flick a switch or turn a tap (fawcett) and we have light, heat and water.
Create an account, log in here. You will receive points by participating in discussions.
Join this discussion.

Install Elektroda application

Didn't find an answer? Ask Artificial Intelligence

*I agree to send the question to OpenAI, Anthropic PBC, Perplexity AI, Inc., Kagi Inc., Google LLC - owners of language models in order to prepare the best response. The companies may monitor and log information entered into the form.

*I agree to publicly display my question and answer. The question and answer will be publicly available to everyone. The process may take a few minutes. Upon completion, you will be redirected to the page with the answer.

Wait...(2min)

Reply | New topic

Report a violation of the law

Topic summary

✨ The discussion provides a comparative overview of residential electricity and gas tariffs from various global locations. In the UK, electricity costs approximately 16.2 pence (US$0.22) per kWh with a standing charge of £86 annually, and gas at 3.6 pence (US$0.047) per kWh. Alabama residential rates include a base monthly charge of $14.50, with tiered electricity rates of $0.102269/kWh for the first 750 kWh and $0.090269/kWh thereafter. Huntsville, Alabama reports about $0.10 per kWh for electricity and $0.0095 per cubic foot for gas. Australia features a high fixed supply charge of A$127 per month, with usage rates around A$0.31 per kWh and discounted tariffs available. Ontario, Canada uses time-of-use rates with on-peak electricity at $0.132/kWh and mid-peak at $0.094/kWh, alongside options for fixed-price contracts and load shedding. New Zealand’s electricity is primarily hydro-based, with a fixed daily charge of NZ$1.00 and user charges near NZ$0.23 per kWh, including solar feed-in credits. Washington State electricity rates include a $9.00 basic monthly charge with tiered rates from 7.533 to 10.276 cents per kWh. South Sudan experiences extremely high costs (~$0.50 per kWh) from diesel generators with limited grid availability, prompting solar alternatives. The UK’s electricity generation infrastructure was also discussed, including combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants and the use of static starting devices for gas turbines. The conversation highlights the variability in fixed charges, tiered pricing, deregulation, and the impact of wholesale prices on retail tariffs worldwide.
Generated by the language model.

Home page
/
Forum
/
Circuit Design
/
EEWeb Topics
/
Global electricity retail prices – quick heads-up please

Global electricity retail prices – quick heads-up please

What do residential electricity tariffs currently cost in different countries and regions?

Didn't find an answer? Ask Artificial Intelligence

Topic summary