How Many Kilowatts Does the Average Home Use?

Answer 1

The average kilowatts used by the average home is 1.5 kw.

Over what period of time? Per month, day, week, hour?

Clearly not per hour, as over a 24 hr period the kw used will vary widely. This figure I guess comes from total power delivered in an electricity company's area divided by the number of homes in that area, but I admit not knowing its provenance. If it is derived as described then it will be over a three month or yearly period.

This answer needs clarification. A house's load, in kilowatts, varies throughout the day, according to what appliances are in use, and depends on the nature of the load, and upon something called 'diversity'. And it is also important to realise that you don't 'use' kilowatts; a kilowatt is a measure of the rate at which you use energy (in kilowatt hours). Because houses are so different, it is difficult to specify an 'average' load. However, it would be possible to calculate the 'average' load by dividing the kVA rating of the transformer by the number of houses it supplies. This average value will be far lower than one would expect because of a calculation called the 'after diversity, maximum demand'. 'Diversity' takes into account that not everyone is at home at the same time, and not every appliance in any household is running at the same time.

The main fuse supplying an individual house would not be able to cope if every appliance was switched on together, because the chances of that happening is very unlikely. So, one way of calculating the 'maximum' load it could handle is to multiply your main-fuse rating by the supply voltage.