Look at your ConEd bill. Find the line that says "Supply Charges." That section shows the cost of the electricity itself, separate from what ConEd charges to deliver it through the wires. Next to it, you'll see a rate in cents per kWh. That single number determines a big chunk of what you pay every month. And most people have absolutely no idea what a kWh is.
Here's the plain-English version.
Watts are speed. Kilowatt-hours are distance.
Think about driving a car. Your speedometer shows miles per hour, telling you how fast you're going right now, but not how far you've traveled.
Electricity works the same way. Watts measure how much power something is drawing at this exact moment: your phone charger uses about 5 watts, while your window AC draws about 1,000.
A kilowatt is just 1,000 watts. Same thing, bigger number.
A kilowatt-hour is what you get when you run something that draws 1,000 watts for a full hour. It's the distance, not the speed. Your ConEd meter counts kilowatt-hours. Every month, ConEd multiplies that count by your rate and sends you a bill.
One more way to think about it: 10 things drawing 100 watts each, running for one hour, equals 1 kWh. Same result. What matters is total energy used over time, not how many things are on.
What does a kWh actually feel like in your apartment?
Here's where it gets useful. These are real numbers for a typical NYC apartment:
| Activity | kWh used |
|---|---|
| Charging your phone overnight | 0.05 kWh |
| Running your laptop for a full day | 0.3 kWh |
| Watching TV for an evening (3 hrs) | 0.3 kWh |
| Running a window AC for 2 hours | 1 kWh |
| Cooking dinner in the oven | 1.5 kWh |
| Running your fridge for a full day | 1.5 kWh |
| Window AC running a full summer day (10 hrs) | 5 kWh |
| Everything in a typical NYC apartment, per day | 15-20 kWh |
| Everything in a typical NYC apartment, per month | ~500 kWh |
Notice how lopsided this is. Charging your phone for the whole night barely registers. Running the AC for one day uses as much electricity as a week of laptop work. The big draws are heating and cooling, not screens.
Now that you know your kWh — check your rate.
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Check my savings →Why the per-kWh rate matters more than you think
A typical NYC apartment uses about 500 kWh per month. At ConEd's current total rate of 27.39¢ per kWh (EIA, March 2026), that's roughly $137 a month.
That 27.39¢ breaks into two pieces. The delivery charge, about 13.2¢, is what ConEd charges to move electricity through the wires to your home. The supply charge, about 14.2¢, is the cost of the electricity itself.
When you switch suppliers, only the supply portion changes. The delivery charge stays with ConEd no matter what.
So what's a 2.4¢ difference worth? On 500 kWh, that's $12 a month. That's $144 a year. Not life-changing, but not nothing. If you're in a bigger apartment or running AC all summer, your monthly kWh is higher and the savings scale up with it.
Summer is where it gets expensive
Winter in NYC is mild enough that most apartments don't use much electricity for heat (most use gas). Summer is a different story.
A standard 10,000 BTU window AC draws about 1,000 watts. Run it 10 hours a day for 90 days of summer. That's 900 kWh just from the AC. On top of your normal 500 kWh monthly baseline, your July and August bills can be brutal.
This is why your rate plan matters more in summer than at any other time of year. A variable rate, where the price you pay per kWh can change every month with no cap, moves with the wholesale electricity market. Summer heat waves drive up demand, wholesale prices spike, and if you're on a variable rate, you absorb the full hit. A fixed rate locks in your price per kWh for the length of your contract. You pay the same per kWh whether it's a mild June or a 95-degree heat wave in August.
Read our guide on fixed vs. variable rates if you want to go deeper on this.
How to find your actual kWh usage
You don't have to estimate. ConEd tells you exactly.
- On your paper or PDF bill, look for a line labeled "kWh used this period." It's usually in the summary section at the top or in the Usage Details section.
- ConEd's website and app both show your daily and monthly usage history. Log in and look for "My Energy Use." You can see month-by-month going back a year or more.
- Your actual kWh number makes the SwitchNYC savings calculator much more accurate. Instead of using the 500 kWh average, plug in your real number and get a precise estimate.
If you're in a building where electricity is included in rent, you won't have this data. But if you pay ConEd directly, it's all there.
Now that you know your kWh — check your rate.
Enter your monthly bill. See how much switching could save you. Free, takes 2 minutes.
Check my savings →