What is a Kilowatt?

A Kilowatt (KW) is a quantity of power used equal to a 1000 watts. "Kilo" is a prefix for 1000, so a kilowatt is a 1000 watts of power.

A kilowatt is an important unit quantity of power because most electric utility companies charge by kilowatts of energy used per hour, called kilowatt-hours, meaning that if you use, for example, 7 kilowatts of energy in an hour and your electric utility company charges 14 cents per kilowatt-hour, you will be charged $0.98 ($0.14x7KW) for that time of energy usage.