Bhutan's industrial electricity is the third-cheapest in the world

The Bhutan HV1 industrial tariff — what the country’s 23 largest electricity customers, almost all ferro-alloy and cement plants, currently pay — is $0.019 per kWh. On the international benchmark table compiled across IEA, GlobalPetrolPrices, and country-level regulators, that places Bhutan in the 3rd–4th cheapest position globally.

Only Iran clearly beats it — and Iran’s $0.005–0.020 industrial range is held in place by sanctions exposure, deep subsidy from oil revenues, and crypto-mining ASIC import restrictions. Iceland’s aluminium-smelter contracts (Rio Tinto Straumsvík, fixed 2010, indexed to US CPI) — the global reference price for energy-intensive industrial users in a renewable-rich economy — sit at $0.035, 85% more expensive than Bhutan HV1. Ethiopia, the closest peer in renewable-anchored economies, is at $0.030–0.060.

Bhutan HV1 is 8.5× cheaper than the world industrial average ($0.162), 9.5× cheaper than Germany ($0.180), and 4.3× cheaper than the US industrial average ($0.082).

The 2026 tariff revision proposes raising HV1 from Nu 1.60 to Nu 2.80 — a 75% increase. After the revision, post-implementation HV1 would sit at $0.033/kWh — still in the global bottom decile, still cheaper than every OECD industrial economy. The structural cross-subsidy from many small ratepayers toward a tiny industrial concentration remains, even after the revision lands.

This is not a small-country distortion to be smoothed out. It is the country’s largest single transfer of national value, hidden inside the tariff structure.