Am I Being Penalized For A Bad Power Factor?
Power factor is becoming a more important electrical measurement for manufacturing facilities and textile plants to consider when trying reducing their facilities energy costs. Texas Electric companies are now starting to penalize factories and manufacturers who have a power factor that is lower then 1. This is nothing new but somewhat new in Texas. The reason that this is an issue is because TXU or perhaps Spark Energy may bill you for watts but they are actually supplying your business with volt-amperes. The circuits in the machines that are plugged into your power need to have the energy stored in an arc when they machines are off or not running. If they continue to suck power the power factor becomes a little off. This is the non-scientific way of describing what is going on. An electrical engineer can come into a facility and determine where there is a circuit that is not efficient and fix or retrofit the problem area at little expense. The problem arises when there are hundreds of these inefficient circuits throughout the facility. This can end up costing you and that is when it is important to get the accountant to start number crunching the cost savings available by going ahead and tackling the issue rather then paying monthly penalties to the electric provider.
Why Do I Have To Pay?
These innefiencies cause the pole and wire company to add more transformers, generators, conductors, and switchgear. They pass these infrastructure ad-ons on to your company’s bottom line. Those devices are expensive and it will always be more advantageous to go ahead and fix the facilities inefficiencies then subsidize the utilities infrastructure upgrades through penalty fees. The utility has to make these upgrades in their pole and wire business in order to carry the larger current needed to supply these inefficient currents in the companies facility. A great power factor is at 90% – 95%. If you can stay within this percentage range you will not be penalized. This power factor limit can differ from utility to utility but if you don’t know what the penalty is yet take a look at a usage file for your facility and you will quickly see just how much the utility is charging you for running an inefficient facility.
Speak To An Energy Consultant About Your Options
Don’t lose that good power through a bad circuit. Speak to energy consultant today to have an audit of your electric usage and suggestions on how to effectively and affordably fix your power factor issue.
