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Watt-hours to Kilowatt-hours Converter

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

1 Wh = 0.001 kWh

Watt-hours to Kilowatt-hours conversion table

Watt-hours (Wh)Kilowatt-hours (kWh)
10.001
20.002
30.003
40.004
50.005
100.01
250.025
500.05
1000.1

How to convert Watt-hours to Kilowatt-hours

1 Wh equals 0.001 kWh. Use the converter above for any value, or read the table for common conversions.

kWh = Wh × 0.001 · Wh = kWh × 1000

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

Worked examples

  • 1 Wh= 0.001 kWh
  • 5 Wh= 0.005 kWh
  • 10 Wh= 0.01 kWh
  • 100 Wh= 0.1 kWh
  • 500 Wh= 0.5 kWh

What these units are

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.

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 Watt-hours 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 watt-hours 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.

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