According to this Spanish-language blog post by the Fundacion Solon, investment costs for Chepete and El Bala would be 8.063 million dollars according to environmental records. This figure does not include the costs of the more than 1,000 km electric transmission line to Cuiaba, Brazil, where electricity would be sold. Of the planned mega-dams in Bolivia, the most expensive hydroelectric plant per MW of installed power is El Bala with 3.28 million dollars. These are only preliminary estimates. According to a 2013 study by the University of Oxford,, the final costs of mega-hydroelectric plants normally double in relation to their initial budgets.
The planned megadams are also not profitable. In the case of El Bala, the energy cost is so high that Geodata's own report recommends delaying the construction of this hydroelectric plant until market conditions improve. The one with the lowest cost of electricity generation would be the Chepete with 55 USD / MWh. However, this figure is above the average price at which Brazil bought electricity during the last decade.
To date, over 33 million dollars have been spent on studies to prepare for the megadams.