Electricity Price per kWh in Australia (2025 S2)
A kilowatt-hour costs A$0.33 in Australia — $0.23, the 15th dearest of the 23 countries tracked here. What the main retailers charge, what that does to a real bill, and how clean the grid behind it is.
Electricity in Australia costs A$0.33 per kilowatt-hour — $0.23 once converted — which puts it 23 % below the median of the 23 countries tracked on this site. That is the price with all taxes included, for a household in the 2,500–4,999 kWh a year band — one definition applied to every country, because mixing tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive figures is what puts most country comparisons out by 15% or more.
What that means in practice: a household using 3,700 kWh a year pays about A$1,221 for the electricity itself. The number on your own bill will differ — that is what the retailer table below is for.
What the main retailers in Australia charge
Indicative standard tariffs from the 3 largest retailers. Between the cheapest and the dearest there is 6 % — on 3,700 kWh a year that is A$74 you can move without using a single kilowatt-hour less.
| Retailer | Per kWh | At 3,700 kWh/yr |
|---|---|---|
| Origin Energy | A$0.32 | A$1,184 |
| AGL | A$0.33 | A$1,221 |
| EnergyAustralia | A$0.34 | A$1,258 |
What things actually cost to run in Australia
Yearly running cost at Australia's average price of A$0.33, all taxes included. Consumption figures are the same ones the appliance pages use.
| Appliance | kWh/yr | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator | 460 | A$152 | A$12.65 |
| Washing machine | 187 | A$62 | A$5.15 |
| Tumble dryer | 390 | A$129 | A$10.73 |
| Electric water heater | 1,577 | A$520 | A$43.36 |
Those four together come to A$863 a year in Australia — $601. The same four cost $784 at the median of the 23 and $1,202 in Ireland, the dearest. Same appliances, same hours — the difference is entirely where they are plugged in.
How that compares
Australia against the extremes and the middle of the 23 countries tracked, in dollars per kWh so the comparison is like for like.
How clean the electricity is
Price is only half of what a kilowatt-hour costs. The grid in Australia emits 525 grams of CO₂-equivalent per kWh on a lifecycle basis, averaged over a year of generation. For the same 3,700 kWh household that is about 1,943 kg of CO₂ a year.
For scale: the cleanest grid tracked here is Norway at 20 g/kWh, the dirtiest is South Africa at 950 g/kWh. Australia sits in the dirtier third, 20th cleanest of 23.
This matters for a practical reason as well as an environmental one: on a clean grid, swapping a gas boiler for a heat pump cuts emissions immediately. On a coal-heavy one, the same swap mostly moves the emissions from your street to the power station.
The national figure is an average with all taxes included: your own tariff depends on your retailer, your contract, whether you are on time-of-use pricing, and the season. Standing charges are not in the per-kWh figure. For anything that matters, use the number on your own bill — every calculator here takes it.
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