Re: Utility Billing KWH/ Measures in KVA but bills in kWh

> The standard kwh meter used in all residential and commercial customers 
> is able to measure the real power directly.  Customer loads do *not* 
> have to be power-factor corrected.  If that were true, every freezer 
> case in a grocery store would have to have pf correction on the 
> compressor and every office-building would have pf correction on the A/C

> (not to mention the flourescent lighting).
> 
> daestrom
> 


Most do! All but the cheapest fluorescent ballasts are HPF, they have an 
internal capacitor to correct the power factor. I've never seen an A/C 
compressor that didn't have it as well. True, it won't affect the bill 
for home users, but it's still always good to aim for as close to unity 
power factor as possible, it allows circuits to be fully utilized and 
reduces losses in the wiring.