Average electricity bill for 4 person household

What is a kilowatt hour (kWh)?

A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a way of measuring the amount of energy you're using.

One kilowatt-hour is equal to how much energy that would be used by keeping a 1000 W appliance running for 60 minutes, so for example, if you left a 50 W appliance running, in 20 hours it would use 1 kWh of energy.

Formula & Example

Energy use in kilowatt-hours is determined by multiplying the number of hours appliance operates by its rated power in kilowatts.

We then multiply the electricity cost per kilowatt hour to calculate what it costs to keep the appliance running.

Thus, we use the following formula:

Wattage in Watts / 1,000 × Hours Used × Electricity Price per kWh = Cost of Electricity

So, for example, if we have a 40 W lightbulb left on for 12 hours a day and electricity costs $.15 per kilowatt-hour, the calculation is:

40 watts / 1,000 × 12 hours × $.15/kWh = $.072