Being the Wiser Idiot # 2: How to Compute for Kilowatt/hour and Cost

You know, ever since the whole deal with the world crisis and stock market imploding on itself, the globe was set on a massive cost cutting frenzy which led to a whole bunch of wonderful things (and a whole shitload of bad ones) like promotion of green technology, alternative energy, practical expenses and awareness for stuff I didn't even bother to give a thought about before. Now, I've always been familiar that the wattage of appliances is the one that will determine its cost-to-run expenses by the month's end. How much wattage influences the electric bill in the end was, sadly, another story for me. So, for the energy-conscious individuals out there without much understanding on the whole matter, I've decided to explain the whole process on computing the running-costs of your appliances in a manner as simple as I can.

Step 1: Let's start off with the formula for converting Wattage to Kilowatt-hour (kWh):

kWh = Wattage(W) x number of hours appliance used in a day(h)/ 1000 Watts (to convert watts to kW)

Example: An electric fan at low speed would run at 45 watts for 5 hours a day.
- 45W x 5h/ 1000W
- 225Wh/ 1000W
Finals Answer: 0.225kWh in a day

But what do we really are about some number with kWh stuck at the end, right? Doesn't really mean much unless we add something we really care about like say...money?

Here in the Philippine Visayas region, The Visayan Electric Company(VECO) are a very shrewd and devious bunch so we can't really pinpoint how much exactly 1 kWh costs in Philippine Peso, but for simplicity's sake, let's consider it at the rate of 7php = 1 kWh.

Step 2: Convert kWh to your currency of choice (in our case, Philippines Peso)
 with the formula:

Cost = Kilowatt-hour(kWh) x kWh Rate (php/kWh)

Example: Take our fan from the previous example with 0.225kWh with the rate of 7php/kWh
- 0.225kWh x 7php/kWh
Final Answer: 1.575php to run a 45watt fan for 5 hours in one day.

Step 3: Convert day usage into monthly usage for a better understanding your monthly electric bills

Simply put, I'd like to use 31 days instead of 30 as it takes into consideration the most likely largest bill you might receive from using the said appliance. With that said, simply use:

Monthly Cost = daily cost x 31 days

Example: Our fan again with 1.575php/day x 31days

Final Answer: 48.825php in average for a months use. Roughly 49php once you round it off for a simpler answer.

Now that you've got the basics down, you can now pause in awe or smack your head, whichever you fancy, with your wasteful electric habits. Oh, word of the wise, for you abusive air conditioning people One Horsepower = 746 Watts.