Differences between Power and Energy

In Peru, electricity generating companies are remunerated mainly on the basis of two criteria: Power and Energy. These are included in the electricity bills issued to end users of electricity, who must pay for their consumption. What does each one consist of and how do they differ?

The Power

From the perspective of an electricity generating company, power is the maximum amount of energy that can be produced at an instant, or at a given moment. In that sense, from the point of view of the end user, power is the maximum amount of energy that he managed to consume at a given instant or moment. Power is measured in watts or watts (w). In other words, power is related to the ability to produce energy.

In the words of Osinergmin, electrical power, whose unit of measurement is the watt (W), quantifies the amount of energy that is consumed, produced or transferred in each unit of time.

The Energy

Energy is the electricity that the user has consumed in a given time. That is, the energy that is charged to the end user on their electricity bill is that which was consumed during the period of one month. This is why energy is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). In a few words, electrical energy represents the amount of energy that was consumed, produced or transferred during a certain period.

So, we must understand that Power is the capacity that a generating company has to produce, or a user to consume, while energy is said power consumed in a given period. For this reason, Energy is a more variable concept in the electricity bill, since the consumption of end users is usually different each month.