Bills, bills, electricity bills. Each month we all dread receiving them. You may know how much you’re spending – but are you aware of how much energy you’re consuming daily or monthly? Or the average electrical energy consumption of a typical household in the U.S.? Do you know how many watts it takes to power a house? Or how many kWh does a house use per day? What even is a watt or a kWh?
Of course, this all depends on many different factors, including lifestyle, number of household members, how the house is built, the geographic location, and much more.
If you’re unfamiliar with Science Physics and want to gain a clearer insight into your home energy usage, we’ll break down everything you need to know to make sure you’re fully equipped with the correct knowledge to help you determine your average home power usage and better manage your bills.
What is the average size of a home?
Firstly, as a basis to determine the average electricity consumption per household in the U.S., we’ll work out the average size of a house.
According to U.S. Census data (released in June 2021), the median size of a single-family home was 2,261 square ft. Almost 50 years prior, in 1973, the average median of a home in the U.S. was 1,660 square feet.
So assuming that the older, smaller homes are likely still around and factoring in the newer, much bigger homes, we can calculate that the average-sized home in total must be around 2,000 square feet ((1600 + 2261) / 2 = 1960.5).
How much electricity does a house use per day (and per month)?
The next factor to consider is how much power does a house use on average per day and month? This will help you to compare your electricity usage to the national average.
We’ll start by looking at the different measurements of electricity before you can evaluate your own home energy usage.
The difference between kW & kWh
Before working out how many kW a home uses or how many kWh a house uses per month, let’s differentiate between the two measurements.
The power of each home is measured in kilowatts (kW). One kW equates to 1,000 watts, whereas kilowatt-hours (kWh) measures your energy usage – or to put simply the power consumed per hour. So let’s put this in a real-time perspective. 1 kWh would be used to run a 1000-watt appliance for an hour (assuming no efficiency loss). Or on a smaller scale, a 100-watt lightbulb would run for 10 hours using 1 kWh.
How many kWh does a house use?
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2020, the average kilowatts for a house was 893 kilowatt-hours per month or around 30 kilowatt-hours per day.
How many watts does a house use?
Next, we’ll calculate the average wattage for a house per day by using the median number of kWh per day. Wattage is the measurement of electrical power.
Below is the formula for converting kWh into watts:
watts = (kWh × 1,000) ÷ hrs
If it takes 30 kWh to power a house per day and we multiply that figure by 1,000, that means 30,000 watthours of energy is consumed within 24 hours.
Subsequently, if we divide 30,000 by the number of hours in a day (24) that means it takes around 1250 watts per hour to power a home. That averages out at 900,000 watts of which your appliances could be drawing out each month.
Nonetheless, this is based on the national average which is calculated in a 24-hour period – assuming that appliances are being used throughout that time period. When it comes to calculating your own wattage usage, note the wattage of appliances that need to be on all day like a refrigerator or freezer, and the wattage and frequency of usage of other devices during the day.
How many kW does a house use?
If the median watt-hours of a home per day is 30,000, to find out how many kilowatts it takes to run a house using direct calculations, simply divide the wattage by 1000 to get 30.
Below is the formula for converting watts into kilowatts:
kilowatts = P(W) / 1,000
That means that the average kW used in U.S. households is 30kW per day, which averages at around 900kW per month.
As a disclaimer, these figures are calculated from the U.S. home average of kilowatt-hours per day. A more precise calculation would be to conduct your own home audit by familiarizing yourself with the kW and kWh on each appliance.
Appliances – how much power does a house use?
Firstly, lifestyle and the frequency with which you use your electrical appliances is one aspect to consider. If the average household electricity consumption (kWh) per day is 30 kWh, and the median size of a house is 2,000 square feet, let’s use this as our template.
So, just how many kilowatt-hours does a house use per day?
Air-conditioning units & heaters
Heating or cooling systems are very energy-hungry depending on the situation. For example, if you work around the clock from home and are needing to keep your air-con switched on just to create an ideal working environment during a Californian heatwave, then this will surely gobble up your kWh usage. One standard 1800 W air-conditioning unit blasting for up to 8 hours may be guzzling 14.4 kWh per day – that’s almost half the average power usage. In winter, space heaters at 1500 watts can exhaust almost as much energy if not more than cooling equipment.
Washing and Drying machines
Washing machines (500w) and dryers (1800w-5000w) can also rinse and dry up your usage, especially if you have a few family members or housemates at home doing frequent loads. You could be using an astonishing 3.5 kWh for around a 45 min drying cycle using a 5000w clothes dryer, or paying around 33.60 cents in one go.
Lights and lamps
Light fixtures are a sneaky source for draining power. If you have a 100-watt lightbulb you could be using 1 kWh per day – or 11.20 cents. It might not look a lot but it sure adds up pretty quickly if you have a family that is using light sources simultaneously throughout the day.
Home Entertainment systems
Depending on the regularity of usage and the number of people in the home, your gear might be taking away more kWh than you realize. For instance, a gaming laptop can use between 300-500w (depending on the features) which can equate to 1 kWh every couple of hours. Picture another three family members using devices such as a TV, a plugged-in laptop, and a stereo system at the same time and it can rack up pretty quickly.
To work out how many kilowatts you use per day from the wattage of your appliances, use this handy conversion calculator.
Insulation
Secondly, the materials that your home is built from can affect how much power is being drawn out each month.
Older homes are often built with materials that allow hot or cold air to enter or escape, and can cost you more to heat or cool your space.
With this in mind, insulating your house from the roof down ensures you’re saving a lot of dollars annually.
Another energy drainer is draughts. If you’re cautious about wasting energy, installing draught excluders for your doors will lock in the heat or cool air and will save you energy in the long run.
Shopping for the right electricity plan for your home
Thirdly, finding out how many kWh per day is normal for your household is imperative when choosing an energy supplier and the right plan. Begin by looking at your meter reader for past readings and assess the pattern. From here you can start comparing prices in your local area and research additional plan costs tailored to you.
To set you off on the right foot when determining a plan, take a look at the average U.S. household electricity bill as a baseline. According to U.S Energy Information Administration, a median monthly electricity bill costs $131.63 at around 11.20 cents per kWh.
Energy-saving solutions for the home
So we’ve looked at aspects that can affect your household electric usage, but how can you deter excessive consumption to lower your energy bills?
A few things you can change are:
- Swapping out your bulbs to LED or CFL lightbulbs.
- Switching off your devices by the wall and not leaving them on standby.
- Hanging your freshly laundered clothes outside or on a drying rack indoors.
- Decrease your heating, or notch up your cooling by one degree.
- Close your blinds and curtains to lock in heat (40% of home heat can escape through your windows alone).
- Seeking appliances that have the yellow ENERGY STAR ® label. These take less energy to run than other models.
Another element you can add to your home lifestyle is installing smart technology to automate your home electrical supply and appliances to enable you to gain more control over your kWh usage.
What are the benefits of a DELTA Pro ecosystem?
A smart way to bolster your home energy oversight is by using a DELTA pro power station and its suite of add-ons.
The DELTA pro can be expanded with additional smart batteries, Smart Generators, and the Smart Home Panel which you can conveniently control from your phone via the EcoFlow app.
The DELTA pro ecosystem has massive benefits that can be tailored to your pursuits in finding a home energy-conscious solution.
Eco-conscious home circuit
Did you know that you can safely connect direct clean, green solar energy into your home circuit? With the DELTA pro, you can store up to 1600w of energy using EcoFlow 400w solar panels that draw energy from the sun. Connect up to two DELTA pro power stations to the Smart home panel which links up to your circuit breaker box and your home circuits. Ta-da! That’s a total of up to 2,400w of reliable solar power delivered to your home via the ecosystem so you can save on your monthly bills.
Save money on your monthly bills
By storing electricity throughout the day and combating time-of-use rates, with the Smart Home Panel you can control your home circuits of choice and even remotely manage your home appliances using the EcoFlow app on your phone. So imagine you’ve forgotten to switch off your lights and you’re already deep into your daily commute to work – with the app you can switch off your lights and worry less about energy wastage.
Ready for blackouts
Rest assured that with the DELTA pro ecosystem, you’ll be armed and ready for a blackout without having to sacrifice comfort. With a system that occupies a 3.6 kWh capacity that can be expanded to a huge 25 kWh capacity, you can power up pretty much all of your appliances.
With a 3600W output, you can easily charge up heavy-duty electricals like a dryer, AC unit, heater, and more. Alternatively, if you’ve got several household members you can connect two DELTA pro units to generate an astonishing 7200W output.
To summarize
To round off, you should now have a much clearer understanding of how many kW and kWh it takes to run a house. By journaling your average monthly consumption and recognizing habits or factors that may be costing you precious kWh and excess dollars, you can take the steps to find the correct energy plan for you and invest in a DELTA pro ecosystem tailored to suit your home lifestyle.