He said it's autumn there, so I assume that means he's quoting the price of electricity in AUD not USD.  The exchange rate is like .7 AUD = 1 USD so his 50 cents is roughly equal to 35 of ours (us being we USA-ites).

And that seems about right.  According to this chart:

  Electricity prices around the world in $/kWh
  http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/average-electricity-prices-kwh#more-3858

The average Aussie pays .29 usd /kWh while the US average is .12 cents -- I pay .08 $/kWh because Pennsylvania is frackland and the natural gas glut is currently keeping our electricity unusually cheap.

In fact, I wanna buy an abandoned factory with utility grade power and start a mining farm.

Then I could stop commuting 90 miles to NYC every day for a living... anyone want to bank roll that?  I got just the place all picked out... :-)