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Energy Cost Per Unit Calculator

Enter the machine power, run time, electricity rate, and units produced.

How it is calculated

The tool turns a machine's power draw into electricity cost per item: energy (kWh) = power / 1000 × time, run cost = energy × rate, cost per unit = run cost / units. power is the average draw in watts (not kilowatts), time is the total hours the machine runs for the whole batch, rate is the price of one kWh and units is the number of items made in that run. Energy is shown in kWh with three decimals, money in USD with two decimals. Units must be above zero; power and time cannot be negative. Because cost per unit is rounded to cents, very cheap items show coarse values; check the run cost for more detail. Idle, standby and start-up consumption are only counted if they are in the average power.

Worked example

A machine draws 7500 W and runs for 8 hours to make 60 parts, with electricity at $0.15 per kWh. Energy: 7500 / 1000 × 8 = 60.000 kWh. Run cost: 60 × 0.15 = $9.00. Cost per part: 9.00 / 60 = $0.15. Doubling the output in the same 8 hours would halve this to $0.075 per part.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering power in kilowatts. The field is watts, so 7.5 for a 7.5 kW machine gives a thousand times too little energy.
  • Entering hours per unit instead of the total run time. The tool divides the whole run by the units itself.
  • Using the nameplate power instead of the average draw. A machine that cycles on and off uses less than its rated power over the run.
  • Mixing currency or tariff units, for example a rate in cents per kWh typed as dollars.
  • Reading the result as total unit cost. It is only the electricity share, without labour, materials or demand charges.

About this calculator

This calculator finds the electricity cost baked into each unit a machine produces: energy used = power draw (entered in watts, converted to kW) × run time (hours), cost = energy used × electricity rate per kWh, and finally cost per unit = total cost ÷ units produced over that run. It isolates just the power-consumption portion of unit cost, separate from labor, materials, or overhead.

Manufacturing and production engineers, plant managers, and cost accountants use this figure to build accurate per-unit cost breakdowns, compare the energy efficiency of different machines or production lines doing the same job, and estimate how a change in electricity rates or machine utilization will move the cost of goods sold.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    If you can put a plug-in meter or sub-meter on the machine for one full batch, compare its kWh reading with the energy figure here. A big gap usually means the real average draw differs from your wattage, for example because of idle time. At the defaults the unit cost is under a cent, so also read the run cost. How do you currently measure your machine's power?

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