Kilowatt (KW) and Kilowatt-hour (kWh) are commonly used units in the field of electricity and energy, but they represent different concepts:

Kilowatt (KW) – Power Unit:
Kilowatt is a unit of power, indicating the output or consumption capacity of an electrical system at any given moment. Power refers to the ability to do work in a unit of time. When you see a specification of an appliance listing how many KW it uses, it means the instantaneous power consumption or generation capacity of the appliance when in operation.

Example: A 1 kilowatt electric heater consumes 1 kilowatt of power when running at full capacity.

Kilowatt-hour (kWh) – Energy Unit:
Kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy, representing the amount of electrical energy consumed when a one kilowatt power source operates for one hour. It is used to quantify the total energy consumption. Electricity bills are usually calculated based on the consumption in kilowatt-hours.

Example: If your 1 kilowatt electric heater operates for one hour, it consumes 1 kilowatt-hour of energy.

Simple Comparison:
KW (Kilowatt) measures the instantaneous power, i.e., “how fast”.
kWh (Kilowatt-hour) measures the accumulated energy, i.e., “how much”.
The relationship between power (KW) and energy (kWh) can be expressed using the following formula:

Energy (kWh)=Power (KW)×Time (hours)
Energy (kWh)=Power (KW)×Time (hours)

This means that the power of a device (KW) multiplied by the time it runs (hours) equals the energy consumed or generated (kWh).