A shorthand term used by utilities and customers to represent one kilowatt-hour of electrical energy. It measures the amount of power consumed over time, equivalent to running a thousand-watt appliance for one hour. Billing systems, smart meters, and tariff schedules rely on this metric to calculate usage costs and apply time-of-use rates.
Heard on the job
The new tariff charges twenty cents a unit during peak hours, so we should schedule the heavy loads for midnight.
Insider tip
While engineers prefer saying kilowatt-hour to avoid ambiguity with generation assets, customer service and billing departments still lean heavily on the word unit.
Also heard as
- kilowatt-hour
- kWh