Re: Watt meters

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: John Keith <jskeith-at-interaccess-dot-com> 

Hi folks,

    Just to clarify a few points about watthour meters:

Demand and power factor are two separate issues. Large industrial customers
are charged extra for reactive power since it increases the cost of
generation and transmission, but residential customers are not; they are
charged purely on the basis of actual watts. Large users are also charged
extra for high demand of power during peak hours so as to encourage use of
heavy loads during off-peak hours, but this is a separate charge which also
does not apply to residential users, at least not that I have ever seen

Regards,
John Keith



----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 12:27 PM
Subject: RE: Watt meters


 > Original poster: "John H. Couture" <couturejh-at-mgte-dot-com>
 >
 >
 > Adam -
 >
 > The electric energy meter on the side of your house can also be called a
 > watthour meter. It measures  volts x amps x time in kilowatt hours (KWHs).
 > You can calculate KW by dividing the watt hours by the time. The electric
 > company would not know or assume an inductive load for any customer. The
 > customer would not accept the electric company charging him based on
 > assumptions. However, if you have a large electric load they may want to
 > bill you additional charges for the reactive (inductive) portion of your
 > load. This is normally in the form of a demand meter. With this
information
 > you could calculate the power factor. For residences the charge per KWH
 > includes an extra amount for the average (assumed?) house inductive load.
 >
 > The electric utility bill can be a very complex bill today because of the
 > many types of electric loads and the rising cost of electricity. The
biggest
 > problems are harmonics and jumbled waveshapes caused by electronic motor
 > controls and the millions of computers.
 >
 > John Couture
 >
 > ---------------------------------SNIP------------------------------------