Electricity can be measured according to capacity, which could also be called “output”.
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The lowest common unit of power, often used to tell how bright a light bulb will be.
One thousand watts. The amount of power needed to light ten 100-watt lightbulbs.
One thousand kilowatts of power. One megawatt of electricity is enough to serve about 100 homes at the busiest times such as supper hour. The ability of a power plant to generate electricity is usually measured in kilowatts or megawatts. For example, NSPI’s Point Aconi Plant in Cape Breton can produce about 180 MW of power.
One thousand megawatts. One GW represents about half of NSPI’s total generating capacity of 2,293 MW.
Electricity can also be measured according to how much is being used. A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the most common measure of energy use. It refers to the one kilowatt of power used for one hour. An average NSPI residential customer (without electric heat) uses about 500-750 kWh a month. Energy use can also be measured in megawatt-hours (MWh) and gigawatt-hours (GWh).