Global household electricity prices 2023, by select country

Ireland, Italy, and Belgium had some of the highest household electricity prices worldwide, as of December 2023. At the time, Irish households were charged around 0.47 U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour, while in Italy the price stood at 0.45 U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour. By comparison, in the United States, residents paid almost three times less. What is behind electricity prices?Electricity prices vary widely across the world and sometimes even within a country itself, depending on factors like infrastructure, geography, and politically determined taxes and levies. For example, in Denmark, Belgium, and Sweden, taxes constitute a significant portion of residential end-user electricity prices. Reliance on fossil fuel importsMeanwhile, thanks to their great crude oil and natural gas production output, countries like Iran, Qatar, and Russia enjoy some of the cheapest electricity prices in the world. Here, the average household pays less than 0.1 U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour. In contrast, countries heavily reliant on fossil fuel imports for electricity generation are more vulnerable to market price fluctuations. The top importers of natural gas in Europe in 2022 were Italy and Germany, where this energy source constitutes a relevant share of the power mix.

截至2023年12月，爱尔兰、意大利和比利时在全球范围内拥有一些最高的家庭电力价格。当时，爱尔兰家庭每千瓦时电力需支付约0.47美元，而在意大利，这一价格为每千瓦时0.45美元。相比之下，美国居民支付的电力费用仅为爱尔兰的三分之一左右。电力价格的背后是什么？全球范围内的电力价格差异极大，有时甚至在同一国家的不同地区也存在显著差异，这主要取决于基础设施、地理条件以及政治决定的税收和费率。例如，在丹麦、比利时和瑞典，税收构成了居民最终用户电力价格的重要组成部分。对化石燃料进口的依赖与此同时，得益于其巨大的原油和天然气产量，伊朗、卡塔尔和俄罗斯等国的电力价格在全球范围内位居较低水平。在这些国家，平均家庭每千瓦时电力的支付费用不到0.1美元。相反，那些严重依赖化石燃料进口进行电力生产的国家更容易受到市场价格波动的冲击。2022年，意大利和德国是欧洲最大的天然气进口国，天然气作为电力组合中的关键能源来源。