Bermuda had the second most expensive electricity in the world in July 2023, according to ElectricRate.com.

Island residents paid 37 cents per kilowatt hour, far above the 14.2 cent global average.

These prices are nominal and do not account for the higher wages in Bermuda, which on a per capita basis is one of the wealthiest jurisdictions in the world.

In the midyear cost-of-living survey publish by Numbeo, Hamilton was ranked as the most expensive city in the world. It was 40 per cent more expensive than New York City, which is the benchmark for the index.

When the ranking is adjusted for purchasing power, Hamilton is 25 per cent cheaper than New York City.

The most expensive country for power was Germany, where the price was 39 cents per kWh. Germany has faced a perfect storm of events that has forced up the cost of its already high-priced electricity.

It has a high dependence on expensive renewables, uses Russian natural gas and has been ending the use of nuclear power.

Bermuda’s electricity is expensive for a number of reasons, including the relatively small size of the power plants, the need to ship in fuel, the lack of alternative generation, the lack of nuclear power and limited competition.

In the ElectricRate.com survey, other small island jurisdictions did better than Bermuda. In the Bahamas, residents spent on average 31 cents per kWh, as did residents of the Cayman Islands. In Barbados, it was 28 cents, and in Jamaica, 25 cents.

According to the survey, electricity in the United States was priced lower than the global average, though it was higher in some states: 16.32 cents per kWh in New Jersey and 21.6 cents in New York. In Britain, residential electricity costs 27 cents per kWh.