Utility charge for low power factor
Utility charge for low power factor
(OP)
Hello guys,
I am interested in getting your feedback and your experiences on how your Local Distrubtion Companies, LDC's, charge customers on low power factor.
In particular customers of business and industrial buildings.
For ex: Are your utilities structured so that if you improve your power factor through the use of a Power Factor Correction Capacitor system to above let us say 0.98, that the kVA charge is dropped?, i.e. $0.
The utility up here in Toronto, Canada continue to charge for power factor all the way up to 0.99. I do not understand why? There is barely any reactive load there to charge on, yet they do.
Thanks for the input.
Regards,
RK.
I am interested in getting your feedback and your experiences on how your Local Distrubtion Companies, LDC's, charge customers on low power factor.
In particular customers of business and industrial buildings.
For ex: Are your utilities structured so that if you improve your power factor through the use of a Power Factor Correction Capacitor system to above let us say 0.98, that the kVA charge is dropped?, i.e. $0.
The utility up here in Toronto, Canada continue to charge for power factor all the way up to 0.99. I do not understand why? There is barely any reactive load there to charge on, yet they do.
Thanks for the input.
Regards,
RK.






RE: Utility charge for low power factor
If you are talking Toronto Hydro then it does appear they charge a bunch of items based solely on kVA which means any power factor other than 1.0 is penalized. But then they also have what appears to be customer gouging charges that use peak kW and max kW instead of the typical demand kW.
RE: Utility charge for low power factor
Quick question:
What is the basic difference between peak KW, max kW and demand kW. I actually thought all three of these were the same, i.e. the highest point of kW occurred throughout the month.
Also, in theory, if the customer improved their power factor to 1.0 or let us say 0.9999, would you think all of those kVA charges should be reduced to 0.
RE: Utility charge for low power factor
#2 - No, the kVA will become the same as KW when the power factor is 1.
RE: Utility charge for low power factor
Peak is instantaneous in most contaexts, and maximum is usually used same as peak.
My experience is the same as Lionel's. Actual demand kW or 90% of demand kVA. Some places it's 85%, some are more.
Good on ya,
Goober Dave
RE: Utility charge for low power factor
Toronto Hydro, like every other distribution utility in Ontario, pays for ITS monthly peak demand based on the maximum 15-minute demand at the wholesale delivery point, MEASURED IN KVA, NOT KW.
After performing some terrifyingly complex regulatory cost-of-service analyses, this 'volumetric' (based on kVA as the unit) cost is passed on to the demand-based customers.
The consumption is simply measurede in kWhr.
This is a mandated by the regulator (OEB)
RE: Utility charge for low power factor
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RE: Utility charge for low power factor
kVARh in excess of one third of total kWh E0.00628