Power Factor

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The Power Factor of your electrical system can cost you money. A low Power Factor will cause your utility company to add a penalty to your electric bill, and your increased system losses will turn electricity into wasted heat, shortening equipment life.

The Sales Engineering staff at Kele often receives calls concerning Power Factor. Some of the calls are for application assistance in choosing Power Factor monitoring equipment. Other calls come during start-up with questions about the validity of watt, current and voltage measurements that are affected by Power Factor.
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What Is Power Factor?
Power Factor (pf) is the ratio of real power to total power. Real, or productive power, is the actual power used in a building, measured in kilowatts (kW). Reactive power generates the magnetic field for inductive loads such as motors, transformers, lighting ballasts, etc. Reactive power is measured in kilovars (kVAR). Total power (measured in kVA) is a combination of real power and reactive power.

The basic formula for Power Factor is the mathematical ratio of real power to total power. This ratio is an effective measure of system electrical efficiency and is represented as a percentage or decimal (e.g., 90% or 0.9).
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