Energy Mod2 Page2
DUS - Energy Training
What is a kWh?
Before we see how much electricity costs, we have to understand how it's measured. Electricity used at any moment is measured in watts, for example:
• A 100-watt light bulb uses 100 watts.
• A typical desktop computer uses 65 watts.
• A central air conditioner uses about 3500 watts.
To know how much energy you're using you have to consider how long you run your appliances. When you use 1000 watts for an hour, that's a kilowatt-hour, for example:
Each supplier charges a pence rate per unit which is multiplied by the number of kWh used in your billing period. There is also a Standing Charge (like a daily rental charge for the meter) which you need to take into consideration when pricing an energy contract. To simplify this we produce a full costing report comparing the different pence per kWh units, standing charges and contract lengths and then summarise it into a projected annual figure.
