How to Convert Megawatts to Kilowatt Hours
A kilowatt is the general term used to describe the amount of electrical energy consumed by a common household. In fact, your monthly bill from the power utility company bases its monetary charges on kilowatt-hours (KWH), which represent the amount of total electrical power used in a monthly billing period. A single KWH is equal to 1,000 watts consumed in one hour. One megawatt is equal to 1,000,000 watts or 1,000 kilowatts. Converting megawatts into kilowatt-hours is a time-based calculation that employs basic division and multiplication skills.
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Instructions
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Examine your monthly electrical bill. It will indicate the total electrical power your household has consumed over the past month. The average electrical consumption for the United States, based on 2007 data, was approximately 936 KWH.
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Find the megawatt-hours (MWH) consumed by the United States average monthly bill as given in Step 1. You can calculate your own electrical bill by averaging the yearly total and substituting that number with the example given of 936 KWH. Since 1,000 kilowatts equals 1 megawatt, we can divide 936 KWH by 1,000 kilowatts per 1 megawatt. The result is 0.936 MWH, which can be rounded up to 0.94 MWH.
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Calculate the amount of KWH in 150 MWH. The value of 150 MWH is for an example purpose only, in order to show the calculation. We will multiply 150 MWH times 1,000 KWH per 1 MWH. The total comes out to be 150,000 KWH.
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Understand that the average consumption will vary from location to location across the United States. Your local climate will also affect the amount of electrical power consumed by your household.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are unable to perform the calculations, you can use an automatic converter. See the link listed under Resources.
