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Kilowatt-hours to Watt-hours Converter

Convert Kilowatt-hours (kWh) to Watt-hours (Wh) instantly, or use the conversion table below to look up common values.

1 kWh = 1,000 Wh

Kilowatt-hours to Watt-hours conversion table

Kilowatt-hours (kWh)Watt-hours (Wh)
11,000
22,000
33,000
44,000
55,000
1010,000
2525,000
5050,000
100100,000

How to convert Kilowatt-hours to Watt-hours

1 kWh equals 1,000 Wh. Use the converter above for any value, or read the table for common conversions.

Wh = kWh × 1000 · kWh = Wh × 0.001

Multiply a kilowatt-hours figure by 1,000 to get watt-hours, or divide it by 0.001 to go the other way.

Worked examples

  • 1 kWh= 1,000 Wh
  • 5 kWh= 5,000 Wh
  • 10 kWh= 10,000 Wh
  • 100 kWh= 100,000 Wh
  • 500 kWh= 500,000 Wh

What these units are

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.

Watt-hours (Wh). A watt-hour is the energy of one watt sustained for one hour — 3,600 joules. It is used for battery and power-bank capacity; a phone battery is typically 10 to 20 watt-hours.

All factors are exact definitions, so only the display is rounded.

Converting Kilowatt-hours to Watt-hours in practice

Working 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 kilowatt-hours to watt-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.

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