There is a lot of new exciting developments at Sterling Motor Technology. We are in the process of relocating to our new facility. As you may have noticed we are also in the process of launching our new website. If you happen to notice any problems with the website, please contact us so that we may better support our customers.
We have found a facility that will suit our needs as well as our customers. We are in the process of renovating the building to better serve our customers. We hope to have the building fully operational by December 1, 2008.
Power factor is a measure of how effectively your equipment converts electric current from your hydro supplier's system to useful power output, such as heat, light or mechanical motion. A low power factor costs you money.
There are two kinds of power:
- Usable power called kilowatts (kW)
- Reactive power called kilovar (kVar)
The ratio of your usable power consumption to your reactive power consumption determines your power factor. Some electrical equipment, such as motors and transformers, require both types of power. Power factor gets smaller as reactive power increases in comparison to usable power.
When your power factor drops below 90%, a power factor surcharge is applied to cover the cost of supplying additional reactive power. The surcharge chart shows how your charges are calculated.
Low power factor is usually caused by devices, such as motors and transformers, which use a magnetic field to function. Some of the incoming current used to create the magnetic field leads to reactive power consumption, measured in kilovar-hours (kVarh). The ratio of your kWh consumption to your kVarh consumption determines your power factor each month.
There are corrective devices to solve power factor problems. Contact us and ask to speak to one of our qualified representatives that can provide you with the information required to take it to the next step.