BERLIN, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- German consumers paid the highest electricity prices in international comparison, according to an analysis published by the price comparison website Verivox on Monday.
Electricity in Germany was on average 163 percent more expensive than in other countries, according to the analysis which included 135 countries and regions using data from Global Petrol Prices.
"Since the turn of the millennium, electricity costs in this country have more than doubled," said Thorsten Storck, energy expert at Verivox. "This is mainly due to the high share of taxes, levies and charges which now account for more than 50 percent of the electricity price."
The electricity price for consumers in Germany was 32.10 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, while average international prices were only 12.22 euro cents, according to the analysis. Denmark came in second place among the countries with the most expensive electricity prices.
Electricity prices in other industrialized countries were also "considerably cheaper than in Germany," Verivox noted. Consumers in the United States paid with 13.03 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, not even half of what consumers in Germany were charged.
In many major economies such as China, India and Russia, consumer electricity prices per kilowatt-hour were below ten euro cents, less than a third of prices in Germany, according to the analysis.
Electricity was cheapest in Sudan in a global comparison where a kilowatt-hour cost 0.24 euro cents, followed by Ethiopia with 0.90 euro cents, the analysis found.
If the different price levels in the countries were taken into account, Germany only ranked 16th in the global electricity price comparison adjusted for purchasing power, making Germany the most expensive of the G20 countries, Verivox found.
Adjusted for purchasing power, electricity was most expensive in Rwanda, followed by Nicaragua and Burkina Faso and was cheapest in Sudan, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, according to the analysis. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars) Enditem
