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The average Arizona home uses 1,129 kWh of electricity a month or 13,548 kWh a year.

kWh is an abbreviation for kilowatt hour. How do I express kilowatt hours? Maybe kWh(s)? It would look strange as kWhs.

Also,

The average retail price for residential electricity in Arizona is 11.90 cents per kWh.

Do I need the "per" kWh? Is the word per already assumed?

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  • 1. Don't mix symbols and written-out units (cents per kilowatt hours). 2. Yes, you need the "per". 3. Don't use plurals with symbols. 4. There are plenty of style guides and examples of this on the web. Please do some research before asking here. Show your research and explain what you don't understand about what you found out.
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Dec 5, 2018 at 3:07
  • As Phil said, 3. Don't use plurals with symbols. Done.
    – Kris
    Commented Dec 5, 2018 at 5:47

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Technically, "kWh" is an initialism for both "kilowatt hour" and "kilowatt hours". The one that applies depends on whether you're referring to more than one, e.g.

1 kWh = 1 kilowatt hour; and 2 kWh = 2 kilowatt hours.

the "per" is not assumed, but you can replace it with a "/", e.g.

10c per kWh; or 10c/kWh.

edit: for what it's worth, I found a similar question in the physics forum of the stackexchange site.

https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/172039/usage-of-singular-or-plural-si-base-units-when-written-in-both-symbol-as-well-as

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  • Always cite your sources. See the FAQ. Good Luck.
    – Kris
    Commented Dec 5, 2018 at 5:50

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