You may have seen kW and kWh on your electricity bills, on television, or online. But, do you know what they mean, and what the difference is between the two?
Before we go into detail, here are the basics:
- k stands for kilo, or “one thousand.”
- W stands for watt, a unit of power.
- h stands for hour, a measurement of time.
kW vs kWh
kW, short for kilowatt, is 1,000 watts. It is a measure of power or the rate at which electricity flows. So, the more watts an appliance needs to operate, the more electricity it will use. For example, a 100 W light bulb will shine brighter than a 20 W option, but more electricity is required to run it.
kWh, or kilowatt hour, refers to the energy an appliance uses in kilowatts per hour measured by kW x time. If you run the 100 W light bulb for one hour, you will use 0.1 kWh. If you run a 1 kW washing machine for one hour, you will use 1 kWh, and if you run it for two hours, you will use 2 kWh of energy.
