The cheapest electricity in the world: where power costs the least

The cheapest electricity in the world is in Ethiopia, where households pay $0.006 per kWh. At that rate a home using 300 kWh a month pays about $1.80 for the energy. Kyrgyzstan ($0.015) and Bhutan ($0.015) follow. For comparison, the median across the 134 countries we track is $0.149 per kWh, or $45 a month.

The 20 cheapest countries for household electricity

Prices are national averages for households from GlobalPetrolPrices, retrieved October 13, 2026, converted to US dollars. They include taxes and the energy charge but can leave out fixed monthly connection fees. The monthly bill assumes 300 kWh, which suits a modest flat or small house without electric heating; double it for a large or air-conditioned home.

Every one of these 20 countries charges less than 35% of the world median. The full list of 134 countries, including the most expensive at $0.464 in Bermuda, is on the electricity price table.

Why power is so cheap in these places

Very cheap electricity almost always has one of two sources: abundant hydropower, or oil and gas that a government lets its own citizens use at below world prices.

• Hydropower (6 of the 20): Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Zambia, Myanmar and Nepal. Once a dam is built, water costs nothing, so the price mostly covers paying off the plant. Countries with large rivers and mountains can generate far more than they use, and several export power to their neighbours.
• Oil and gas producers (13 of the 20): Iraq, Angola, Sudan, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Nigeria, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Malaysia. Power stations burn domestic fuel, and tariffs are set by the state, often well below what the fuel would fetch on export markets. The cheapness is a policy, paid for in lost export revenue or government subsidy.
• Other cases (1): Afghanistan. Low tariffs here come from other mixes of state regulation, imported power and currency effects.

The price on the bill is not the whole story. Where tariffs sit below the cost of supply, utilities often struggle to fund maintenance and new capacity, and outages or rationing can follow. A cheap kWh is worth less if it isn’t there when you flip the switch, and in several of these countries a large share of homes still have no grid connection at all.

Business pays more in many cheap-power countries

Businesses usually buy power in bulk, so you might expect them to pay less per kWh. Among the high-income countries we track in depth, 9 of 14 do charge businesses less than households. In the cheapest-power countries the pattern is different: 18 of the 20 charge businesses more than homes. The widest gap is in Oman, where business power costs $0.187, 6.0 times the household rate. Often this is a deliberate cross-subsidy: governments keep household tariffs low for voters and recover part of the cost from commercial users. Our electricity price per kWh guide explains how household and business tariffs are built.

Cheapest among the countries we cover in depth

For the 50 countries where we also track income, here is the cheapest power and what a 300 kWh month costs against average pay:

• Egypt: $0.023 per kWh, $6.90 a month, 2.5% of average monthly income.
• Oman: $0.031 per kWh, $9.30 a month, 0.6% of average monthly income.
• Qatar: $0.032 per kWh, $9.60 a month, 0.2% of average monthly income.
• Kuwait: $0.040 per kWh, $12.00 a month, 0.4% of average monthly income.
• Azerbaijan: $0.048 per kWh, $14.40 a month, 2.3% of average monthly income.
• Bahrain: $0.048 per kWh, $14.40 a month, 0.6% of average monthly income.

Measured against income, the lightest bill of all is in Qatar, where 300 kWh takes 0.15% of an average month’s pay. Qatar is the cheapest high-income country on our list, at $0.032 per kWh. Cheap power also makes electric cars cheap to run: see how much it costs to charge an electric car in each country. For the other end of the table, read the most expensive electricity in the world.