Electricity cost guide

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Guide to electricity costs

The reading is in kWh (kilowatt-hours), which means that if your house were to use 1kW for an hour, the meter would go up by 1 unit.

Electricity is measured in kilowatt-hours. In South Africa residential customers pay an average of 30 – 40 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) of electricity.

This is how it works. You’ll be charged by the kilowatt-hour. When you turn on something that consumes 1,000 watts for one hour, it consumes 1 kilowatt-hour. Or if you turn on something that consumes 100 watts for 10 hours, it consumes 1 kilowatt-hour.

Calculate it.

The number of watts that a device uses (x) the number of hours you leave it on (=) the number of watt-hours it consumes (Divide) 1,000 to get kilowatt-hours.

Example:
An electric blanket might consume 100 watts (depending on the setting). So if you leave it on for 10 hours, it consumes 1 kilowatt-hours. That would cost between 40 - 45 cents, if you leave it on for 10-hours.

To see what you local kwh rates are;

City power kWh rates

Eskom electricity rates

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