Africa's cheapest electricity: Ethiopia charges less than a cent

Lagos — Households in Ethiopia pay less for electricity than anywhere else in Africa: under one US cent per kilowatt-hour, according to a ranking by Nairametrics based on GlobalPetrolPrices data for the third quarter of 2026.

The African average is $0.141 per kilowatt-hour for households and $0.134 for businesses.

The ten cheapest

Household rate first, then business rate, in US dollars per kilowatt-hour:

• 1. Ethiopia: 0.006 and 0.019
• 2. Angola: 0.016 and 0.013
• 3. Sudan: 0.019 and 0.042
• 4. Egypt: 0.023 and 0.039
• 5. Zambia: 0.024 and 0.041
• 6. Nigeria: 0.036 and 0.050
• 7. Algeria: 0.041 and 0.035
• 8. DR Congo: 0.066 and 0.077
• 9. Tunisia: 0.067 and 0.116
• 10. Cameroon: 0.085 and 0.179

Behind the numbers

• Ethiopia also sells power abroad: Kenya Power plans to raise its imports from Ethiopia to 400 megawatts at peak hours from December, under a 20-year agreement signed in 2022.
• Angola has the lowest business rate on the list, and plans to raise generating capacity from 6.4 to 9 gigawatts by 2027, including the 2.2-gigawatt Caculo Cabaça plant and the 881-megawatt Baynes project shared with Namibia.
• Sudan: with war damage to the grid estimated at $3 billion, homes and businesses are turning to solar; installed solar capacity reached about 190 megawatts by 2025.
• Egypt kept tariffs flat this year for the lowest-consuming households, while others faced increases linked to the cost of imported energy.
• Nigeria's rates are about 75% below the African average for households and 63% below for businesses, though generator use often raises what people actually pay.
• DR Congo's president has ordered faster agreements on the Grand Inga hydropower project, and the World Bank has backed phased financing of up to $1 billion.
• Cameroon is the only country on the list whose business rate is above the African average.

Source: Nairametrics, reporting by Olalekan Adigun, 14 October 2026, using GlobalPetrolPrices data updated 5 October.