Anybody have KVAr billing for electricity?

[Jim Caudill]

I have just learned that coming in January, my electricity supplier will implement a new type of billing. Currently I purchases Kwh with a 1/2hour loadmeter. The new meters will read KVAr (that is supposedly the correct way to spell it) as well as demand. The new meters will be able to determine something called "power factor". If you go to Wikipedia and type in "Power Factor" you will see what this is about. Some of the worst offenders in this "power factor" stuff is lighting that uses ballasts. Also high on the list are electric motors. Hello! That is almost everything that I use electricity for at the wash.

Now get this, if I have a power factor of .7, they will essentially double the amount of electricity they bill me for. Lighting ballasts are typically in the .4 to .6 range! Supposedly there are high power factor (HPF) ballasts, but I have never heard of them, let alone know what they would cost. Anybody else dealing with this issue?

 

[dclark3344]

Welcome to the computer age. My Demand factor accounts for 1/2 my cost. When they read the meter they stick a probe into it and it down loads all the info. They can tell you what your usage and demand was in any 15 minute interval and that way they can charge you a higher rate during peak hours of the day. I am working with a company PCG that is introducing many new lighting products. They have been busy in Las Vegas lowering there electrical demands. I am going to beta test some bulbs that will replace my scottsdale 320 watt lights that are operating at 208 Volts to a 68 Watt light that operates off 120 Volts. We are changing the one 120 volt leg of the 208 Voltage to a neutral and bypassing all the ballast, capacitors, and ignitors. They show that the light is white and suppose to produce as may lummens with a 15,000 hour bulb life. I already replace some of the lights in my entry signs with the cold cathode bulbs and so far looks good.

 

[Jim Caudill]

I have been dealing with demand metering for a long time, figuring out my electric bill is an entirely differnet matter. This "power factor" stuff is totally new to me. Apparently, "Power Factor" (abbreviated pf) is essentially non-existent in purely resistive loads, such as strip heaters, incandescent bulbs, etc. It comes into play when the electrical loads have inductance associated with them. Anything with transformers and magnetic windings fall into this category (ballasts and motors). The problem is, almost everything at the wash is an "inductive load". I have 23 Metal Halide lights (all with ballasts), (5) 5hp motors, (1) 25hp motor, (1) 10 hp motor, several 1hp motors (RO, repressurization, etc) a couple of circulator pumps, and 6 vac's with 2 motors each. I honestly can't think of anything that isn't an inductive load (even the bay timers have a 24vac transformer). Supposedly, the motors can be corrected by using capacitors that are properly sized for each motor. HPF ballasts can be purchased and retrofitted. But, I think all this stuff does is make the meter read the "true load" or actual power consumption that I have been using all along. The ramifications of this are quite significant. My electric bill could easily double and maybe triple with no increase in use.

 

[MEP001]

All high-quality HID lights are high power factor. Cheap ones (Normal power factor) waste as much electricity as the bulb uses, but HPF will waste only 5%.