Germany’s household power prices 5th highest in the world – report

Only four countries in the world had higher household electricity prices than Germany in the first quarter of 2025, according to an analysis by price comparison website Verivox. German consumers paid an average of 38 euro cents per kilowatt hour at the start of the year.

Households in Bermuda paid the most for electricity in an international comparison – almost 42 cents. Denmark followed in second place with almost 41 cents. Ireland ranked third with a little over 39 cents and Belgium came forth with slightly above 38 cents, according to the report, which is based on data on 143 countries from energy service provider Global Petrol Prices.

The global average price of electricity is currently 15 cents, an increase of 29 percent over 2021. At that time, German consumers paid the highest electricity prices in the world – almost 32 cents. Electricity is cheapest in Iran, where a kilowatt hour costs the equivalent of 0.35 cents, followed by Sudan at 0.53 cents, according to the report.

If purchasing power is taken into account, Germany slips to 22nd place in the global ranking, but remains the country with the second-highest electricity prices within the group of the most important industrialised and emerging countries (G20), behind Italy.

Converting transport and heating - which currently are largely powered by fossil fuels - to run on electricity is key to reaching climate neutrality. A comparatively low electricity price relative to gas is an important lever to accelerate the uptake of heat pumps throughout Germany and Europe, according to a report by the state-owned bank KfW.

The parties in Germany's new coalition government have pledged to reduce electricity prices for households and companies by at least five cents per kilowatt hour, by using CO2 price revenues. The parties also said they would cut the electricity tax to the European minimum, and reduce grid fees.