BTU to Kilowatt-hours Converter
Convert BTU (BTU) to Kilowatt-hours (kWh) instantly, or use the conversion table below to look up common values.
BTU to Kilowatt-hours conversion table
| BTU (BTU) | Kilowatt-hours (kWh) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2.9307e-4 |
| 2 | 5.8614e-4 |
| 3 | 8.7921e-4 |
| 4 | 0.001172 |
| 5 | 0.001465 |
| 10 | 0.002931 |
| 25 | 0.007327 |
| 50 | 0.014654 |
| 100 | 0.029307 |
How to convert BTU to Kilowatt-hours
1 BTU equals 2.9307e-4 kWh. Use the converter above for any value, or read the table for common conversions.
kWh = BTU × 0.0002930710701722222 · BTU = kWh × 3412.141633127942Multiply a btu figure by 2.9307e-4 to get kilowatt-hours, or divide it by 3,412.141633 to go the other way.
Worked examples
- 1 BTU= 2.9307e-4 kWh
- 5 BTU= 0.001465 kWh
- 10 BTU= 0.002931 kWh
- 100 BTU= 0.029307 kWh
- 500 BTU= 0.146536 kWh
What these units are
BTU (BTU). A BTU (British thermal unit) is 1,055.05585262 joules — the energy needed to heat one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. It is used for heating and cooling capacity.
Kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt-hour is 1,000 watt-hours, or 3.6 megajoules. It is the unit on electricity bills, and the 'unit' shown on a prepaid meter.
All factors are exact definitions, so only the display is rounded.
Converting BTU to Kilowatt-hours in practice
Reading the result in kilowatt-hours
The kilowatt-hour is the energy of one kilowatt sustained for one hour, and it is exactly 3.6 megajoules. Its symbol is kWh, and it equals 1,000 watt-hours.
Electricity bills, prepaid meter units, solar generation totals and battery or power-bank capacity are all measured in kilowatt-hours. Appliance consumption over time is compared in the same unit.
A kilowatt-hour is an amount of energy and a kilowatt is a rate, so the unit already contains the time element. Multiplying a kilowatt rating by hours of use gives kilowatt-hours directly.
Quoting a battery in kilowatt-hours when the label gives only amp-hours and a voltage skips a step, because the two must be multiplied first. A kilowatt-hour and a kilowatt are also not interchangeable.
The kilowatt-hour is the meter's accounting unit, the watt-hour is its one-thousandth for battery labels, and the joule and megajoule express the same energy in physics and fuel data. A meter reading is rarely converted into joules, but the two describe one amount.
Checking a btu to kilowatt-hours conversion
Energy units are defined against the joule, so every conversion in this dimension is a single exact multiplication by a published number rather than a chain of steps that could accumulate error.
The pair that needs care is the kilowatt-hour, because it looks like a power unit and is not. It is a watt sustained for an hour, which is why an electricity meter counts in kilowatt-hours while a generator is rated in kilowatts: one is an amount, the other is a rate, and only a duration links them.
To check an energy conversion, express both sides in joules or both in kilowatt-hours before comparing. The commonest mistake is treating a food calorie as a calorie when the label means a kilocalorie, which understates the figure a thousandfold.
Tanzania reference points
Real quantities, converted into the units on this page.
One unit of electricity on a Tanzanian prepaid meter
1 kWh = 3,412.141633 BTU
The average domestic rate was about 229.59 TZS per kWh as of December 2025, including taxes and supply. That is an average across domestic customers, not the marginal rate on a bill.
Source: GlobalPetrolPrices — Tanzania electricity prices (compiled from EWURA/TANESCO tariffs) · verified 2026-09-14
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