Calculate the cost of any kWh of electricity at your rate or the US average, find your cost per kWh from a bill, or estimate an appliance’s running cost.
Cost Per kWh Formula
The following equation is used to calculate the Cost Per kWh.
- Where CPKWH is the cost per kilowatt-hour
- TC is the total cost ($)
- P is the total energy consumption (kWh)
To calculate the cost per kWh, divide the total cost by the energy consumption in kWh.
What is Cost Per kWh?
Definition:
Cost per kWh is the cost per unit of electrical energy consumed. Power is measured in kW; energy is measured in kWh.
Electricity prices vary by location, customer sector and tariff. Use your current utility bill. As an illustrative energy-only rate, 12.88 cents/kWh would give $128.80 for 1,000 kWh or $257.60 for 2,000 kWh before any additional charges; this is not a current national average. See EIA electricity-price guidance.
How to Calculate Cost Per kWh?
Example Problem:
The following example outlines the steps and information needed to calculate Cost Per kWh.
First, determine the total cost. In this example, the total cost is $112.00.
Next, determine the total energy consumption in kilowatt-hours. For this problem, the energy consumption is 500 kWh.
Finally, calculate the cost per kWh using the formula above:
CPKWH = TC / P
CPKWH = $112 / 500
CPKWH = $.224/kWh
