What is a kilowatt or kilowatt-hour (kWh)?
Electricity is measured in watts. For normal residential billing, we use the term kilowatt, which is equal to 1000 watts. To change watts to kilowatts, divide wattage by 1000. An electric meter measures both the kilowatts and the time in hours the electricity is being used. The final billing unit is the product of the two measures and this is called a kilowatt-hour (kWh). As an example, we can measure the electricity used for a 100-watt light bulb that is on for 10 hours: 100 watts รท 1000 = 0.10 kilowatts .
