Update: I am actually searching for really simple, intuitive ways to explain it. I have a background in engineering, but am struggling to explain why we “pay for kwh”, and not kw (on our electricity bill) to someone who doesn’t. I have tried in many ways but maybe I’m not giving the right examples or making the right comparisons. I am really searchig for a way to ELI5.
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The difference is between power and energy. It’s more intuitive to use a mechanical example to explain them:
Energy (KWh or Joules) is the total amount of force used to accelerate an object to a particular speed over a particular distance. E.g. The energy used to push a barrel up a hill.
Power (KW or horsepower) is the rate at which that force can be applied to get the object to a particular speed. E.g. Whether you are pushing the barrel up the hill quickly or slowly.
The energy used to push the barrel up the hill is the same whether it took you 5 mins or 5 hours. The rate of work (the power) is different.
To apply it to the electricity bill, you dont pay more if you use electricity quickly for 5 mins or slowly for 5 hours, they are interested in how much electrical energy you used in total when charging you.
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