- September 23, 2021
- Posted by: Dyaneshwar Nirmale
- Category: Digital Meters
Recently, the state of Maharashtra implemented KvAh billing system, which saw businesses incur considerably higher electrical bills. KvAh billing shifts the focus of billing from active power to apparent power and power factor. Accurately monitoring and controlling power factors could help businesses considerably reduce the amount they pay under the new KvAh system.
What exactly is being billed under KvAh?
When a machine such as a motor starts, it pulls a certain amount of power just to get started. This is extra power that the load does not actually need to carry on its regular work, This power is called reactive power. After it powers on, the motor will do some actual work, The energy it uses for its actual work is called active power. Lastly, the sum total of reactive and active power is called apparent power.
As nonlinear loads are being used increasingly in commercial as well as residential establishments, the emergence of harmonics is set to increase. Harmonics tend to drive up apparent power and increase the power factor. The conventional KwH billing system charges the customers for active power consumed. If the reactive power is high, there are power factor penalties or incentives to cover the same. However, there were issues in reading the power factor correction, which led the consumers to have a poor power factor but still only be charged for active power.
KvAh billing charges the consumer for apparent power instead of covering active power and then leaving power factor penalties separately. Thus, the reactive power and power factor is also being billed directly in one go. When there are heavy reactive loads or nonlinear loads, they cause harmonics that impact the power factor.
How can a multifunction meter help?
KvAh billing shifts the focus of the billing process from consumption of power to power quality. Here, the consumers must reduce their reactive power and maintain a unity power factor. This will in turn improve the voltage profile of the electrical system, reduce power losses, and provide more stable power.
Accurate monitoring of harmonics and power factor is the key to keeping these elements under control. Here, a quality multifunction meter could play a key role.
Newtek multifunction meter is capable of monitoring a number of basic power quality parameters. These include the quality of current, voltage, power factor, as well as harmonics among others. The meter can thus monitor the changes in parameters of nonlinear loads. This data can be transferred to a computer or laptop for further analysis, and consumers can then chalk out a strategy to reduce their reactive power, in turn reducing harmonics, and improving their power factor.