$0.42/kWh!??! Jesus Christ. I think I'm paying around $0.0629/kWh. Where is this?
We're in Alameda, who run their own utility and buys their power from PG&E and our rates are $0.15/kwh. I don't know how PG&E still exists as an entity, they were deserving of the pitchforks a long while ago.
Much of your energy bill is distribution costs, which is a combinational of infrastructure costs and transmission losses.
Transmission losses will be small anywhere in the UK (because it's tiny), but infrastructure costs will vary a lot based on population density.
It's cheaper to erect a few large transmission lines to London than it is to distribute power around the less dense North.
https://www.pge.com/tariffs/Res_Inclu_TOU_Current.xlsx
average billing is currently 38.2c/kwh
I figured I should aim high since the number was so low.
Here in South Africa the rate is about 0.15 (USD, depending on exchange rate), but they keep turning off the electricity because the state-owned utility cannot make enough of it. Load shedding they euphemistically call it instead of the blackouts it really is. Of course they also complain about loss of revenue because we use and thus pay for less kWh if they keep turning it off.
1. https://www.betterbuyenergy.com/ - Zip 43215