It happens all the time in reporting. It seems to be part of the journalistic style guide to provide context to quantities by comparing them to another quantity

It happens all the time in reporting. It seems to be part of the journalistic style guide to provide context to quantities by comparing them to another quantity. Here, both units contain the word "kilowatt" so they are used as comparisons. Of course it's innumerate, but that's a broader problem for our society.