Electricity pricing (sometimes referred to as electricity tariff or the price of electricity) varies widely from country to country, and may vary significantly from locality to locality within a particular country. There are many reasons that account for these differences in price. The price of power generation depends largely on the type and market price of the fuel used, government subsidies, government and industry regulation, and even local weather patterns.
Basis of electricity rates
Electricity prices vary between countries and can even vary within a single region or distribution network of the same country. In standard regulated monopoly markets, electricity rates typically vary for residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Prices for any single class of electricity customer can also vary by time-of-day or by the capacity or nature of the supply circuit (e.g., 5 kW, 12 kW, 18 kW, 24 kW are typical in some of the large developed countries); for industrial customers, single-phase vs. 3-phase, etc. If a specific market allows real-time dynamic pricing, a more recent option in limited markets to date typically following the introduction of electronic metering, prices can even vary between times of low and high electricity network demand.
The actual electricity rate (cost per unit of electricity) that a customer pays can often be heavily dependent on customer charges, particularly for small customers (e.g. residential users).
Price comparison
Electricity price statistics Europe 2014
The table below shows simple comparison of current electricity tariffs in industrialised countries and territories around the world, expressed in US dollars. Whilst useful for comparing world electricity prices at a glance it does not take into account a number of significant factors including fluctuating international exchange rates, a country's individual purchasing power parity, government electricity subsidies or retail discounts that are often available in deregulated electricity markets.[3]
A comparative list of June 2009 prices for Europe may be found in the European Household
The price also differs from the source of the electricity. In the U.S. in 2002, the cost of electricity by different sources is listed below: Coal: 1-4 cents; Gas: 2.3-5.0 cents; Oil: 6-8 cents; Wind: 5-7 cents; Nuclear: 6-7 cents; Solar: 25-50 cents. However, electricity costs from renewable sources depend highly on the source availability, reaching the so-called grid parity in parts of the world where even conventional power plants based on fossil fuel are costly enough (i.e. transportation costs of diesel to isolated communities). The varying costs involved in producing electricity leads to great variance in average electricity rates for residents of different states in the U.S. For example, in 2012, Hawaii residents had the highest average residential electricity rate in the United States (37.34¢/kWh), while Louisiana residents had the lowest average residential electricity costs (8.37¢/kWh). Even in the contiguous United States the gap is significant, with New York residents having the highest average residential electricity rates in the lower 48 U.S. states (17.62¢/kWh).
It is worth noting that the high cost of electricity in the Solomon Islands, as shown in the table below, is primarily a result of the use of imported diesel fuel as the main source of fuel for electricity generators.
In many countries the tariff is considerably lower for high electricity users compared to electricity savers. In Finland the low electricity users in househouilds may pay ca 30% fixed price.
Global electricity price comparison
For comparison:
1 cubic metre of methane contains about 38 MJ LHV of energy or about 10.5 kWh
1 litre of gasoline/petrol contains 33 megajoules or about 9,2 kWh
1 US gallon of gasoline contains 120 megajoules or about 33,3 kWh
65 standard alkaline AA batteries contain 1 megajoule or about 270 Wh
Compare Electricity Rates
Find and Go with a Reputable Supplier
We hear ya. We know picking an energy plan should not be this hard. Unfortunately it often is. So what’s next?
Make sure you choose a reputable supplier. Why does this matter? It’s not like the electricity you get delivered to your home is better or worse when it comes from different suppliers.
The reason you want a reputable supplier usually comes down to billing issues. The most common complaint the Public Utility Commission receives relates to billing issues. Very new, low-cost suppliers are usually start-ups with very little back-office personnel. They also often have poor technology systems. What is the result? Incorrect billing.
"Very new, start-up suppliers often have poor technology and billing systems.
And if the supplier is not very established or reputable, it is a total pain to call and dispute your energy bill. These less-established suppliers often don’t have the man power or the technology to accurately bill and/or manage billing mistakes once they’ve been made.
Know Your Usage and Check for Gotchas
Ok, so this is the hardest part.
Energy suppliers often make it very difficult to figure out what price per kWh you will actually pay for energy. The price you are quoted is often not the price you will pay.
Considering base charges, fees or credits for using a certain amount of energy, and transmission and distribution costs, it is nearly impossible to figure out exactly what price you will actually pay per kWh. We vet every single plan on our site. We know how these plans work - and even we have trouble figuring it out sometimes!
Compare Plans - Check the Price and Term
The second step to finding a good energy plan is to compare both prices and the plan term. Typical plan terms are: Variable, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, or 36 months.
Clearly you want a low-priced energy plan. But make sure you check both the price and the term. You should almost never choose a variable priced energy plan. These plans are difficult to manage and usually result in very high rates after just one month.
Other than our specialized pay-as-you-go (prepaid) plans for our credit challenged customers, we do not offer variable rate plans on www.SearchForEnergy.com. Why? If you prepay for electricity, you know what you are paying and for how much.
On the other hand, if you post-pay for electricity, your chance of getting a shocker of a bill in the mail is very high with a variable rate plan. No one likes to stress out over an unexpectedly large bill. Avoid it where possible by avoiding variable rate plans.
Many suppliers also offer low priced, short-term “teaser-rate” plans. Teaser-rate plans appear very cheap and are only for a term of 1, 2, or 3 months in length. Suppliers hope that you will sign up for this very cheap “teaser-rate” plan and then forget to renew your plan. When you forget to renew your plan, the energy supplier will almost always jack up your rate. Any money you may have saved over those few months will be wiped out in just one, high energy bill. And it will be your fault because you forgot to renew at a lower rate.
For years my job was to evaluate the business plans of energy suppliers. It is pretty much industry standard for suppliers to consider a large part of their profits to be collected when consumers like you fall out of plan and forget to renew at a lower rate. Energy suppliers love to be able to charge you two or three times the standard advertised rate simply because you forgot to renew your plan. Again, this is often how energy suppliers make the most money.
Text Referred From - en.wikipedia.org and searchforenergy.com
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