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Comment by tomaskafka | Hacker News Reader

My electric costs are 0.035 USD/kWh here in Europe (Czech Republic).

Wth is wrong with the USA? It seems like you're getting screwed over everything. 10x electricity, 100x healthcare and education - is US market really just a bunch of colluding monopolies?

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I couldn't quite believe your numbers, and couldn't find any confirmation for them: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/4/4...

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/...

Hm, that seems unusually high, really wonder where these stats come from. Is every eurostat statistic distorted like that?

Here's a chart of energy prices on a Prague energy exchange, currently it's about 30 EUR/MWh = 0.032 USD/kWh. I pay a bit more than that (incl. distribution) with a good tarif (low cost broker), but even conservative people I know who don't renegotiate energy prices get about 0.06 USD/kWh incl. all distribution fees.

That said, electric distribution network in our country is probably underinvested. Is the premium you're paying in US based on distribution network cost?

http://www.tzb-info.cz/ceny-paliv-a-energii

Still seems low for retail. In Europe, the UK has very low costs with ~12-13€c/kwh, high cost countries such as Germany are more around 25-30c/kwh (taxes and renewable energy charge).

Electric rates in the US vary widely. The $0.15/kWh rate sounds like California prices, which are notoriously high compared to other parts. Less urbanized states have lower rates, except Alaska and Hawaii.

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/

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