The power-factor charge is on your bill. Or it isn't.

Many small and mid-size plants in our area pay no power-factor charge at all under the tariffs we reviewed. Some pay every month. One bill tells us which, and what correcting it is really worth.

Get a free bill review Check your utility's rule first

Electric service: summaryBilling period

Energy, on-peak: [kWh]
Energy, off-peak: [kWh]
Measured demand: [kW]
Power factor: [%]
Billed demand (PF adj.): [kW]
Reactive demand: [kVAR]

Illustrative layout; line names vary by utility and many bills show none of these.

Look for these lines.A billed demand above measured demand, or a kVAR line, can mean your utility adjusts for power factor.

14utility tariffs read, with quotes and sources

62cities in six Midwest states

1986family-owned since · engineering team & UL 508A shop

Freebill review, by phone or email

How your utility treats power factor

No PF charge foundComEdNo power-factor or kVAR adjustment in the delivery ratebook; ComEd can require correction to 85%. Supply contracts can have separate terms. Rule confirmedWe EnergiesLarge primary-voltage customers: on-peak billed demand adjusted around 85%. Rule confirmedConsumers EnergyPer-kVAR penalty below a 0.875 average power factor, with a matching credit above. Rule confirmedRochester Public UtilitiesFrom 25 kW: billing demand scaled when the average power factor is below 0.95.

All 14 utilities, with tariff quotes

Start with your symptom

01 · POWER FACTOR

Penalty, capacity, or neither

Even with no charge, correction can free transformer and switchgear capacity before an expansion.

Power factor, explained

02 · HARMONICS

Fuses blowing, transformers hot

Often harmonics, sometimes resonance with an existing capacitor bank. IEEE 519 is judged at the point of common coupling.

Harmonics & IEEE 519

03 · DRIVES

Trips, heating, interference

Overvoltage on capacitor switching, voltage sags, reflected waves, grounding: symptoms and first checks.

Drive & motor problems

Just want a number?

The calculator sizes the capacitor kVAR needed to reach a target power factor, and shows how your utility treats power factor, with the tariff quote and source.

Open the kVAR calculator

Not sure what's going on?

Measure first. A representative week of power quality data can help identify patterns; intermittent faults may need longer monitoring.

Power quality surveys

Who we are

FIXKVAR.com is run by Gross Automation, a family-owned company in Brookfield, Wisconsin, with a full-time engineering team and its own UL 508A panel shop. We look for the cause of a power-factor or power-quality problem, and when correction or filtering is the answer, we design the panel and build it in our own shop. How working with us goes · Areas we serve.