Power Factor Correction
Most manufacturers pay more for electricity than they need to. If your site runs motors, compressors, welding equipment, or other inductive loads, your power factor is likely below 1.0 — and your electricity supplier may be charging you for reactive power on top of your actual consumption.
Power factor correction installs capacitor banks that counteract reactive power at source. The improvement is immediate once commissioned. For many sites, the system pays for itself within 12 to 24 months purely through bill reduction.
Real power (kW) does useful work. Reactive power (kVAr) circulates without doing work but is still billed. PFC capacitor banks cancel reactive power — reducing apparent power (kVA) and eliminating reactive charges.
The impact on your bill
Indicative figures for a medium-sized manufacturing site. Actual savings depend on current power factor, tariff structure, and site load profile.
QUICK CHECK
Your electricity bill will show maximum demand (kVA) and active consumption (kWh). If you are also billed for kVArh (reactive units), or your kVA demand is significantly higher than your kW demand, PFC is almost certainly worth assessing. We can confirm this from a copy of a recent bill and your half-hourly data.
What we do
Power quality assessment
Analysis of half-hourly data and electricity bills to quantify reactive power charges and identify the optimal correction level.
System design
Specification of automatic capacitor bank sized and configured for your site's load profile.
Financial modelling
Projected annual savings, payback period, and return on investment.
Installation management
Project managed through qualified electrical contractors with minimal disruption to production.
Compressor replacement and installation
Where replacement is warranted, we specify and manage the installation of new units - including VSD compressors - through qualified partners.
Post-installation verification
Half-hourly data review to confirm savings against baseline.
Who needs power factor correction?
Sites with large motors - pumps, fans, compressors, conveyors, and machining centres.
Foundries, forges, and heavy fabrication facilities with welding and induction equipment.
Sites where the electricity bill includes a reactive power charge or maximum demand penalty.
Sites where transformer or switchgear capacity is being approached - PFC can defer costly upgrades.
Any site with a power factor below 0.95 on the incoming supply.
Find out if power factor correction is right for your site
Send us a recent electricity bill and we will identify whether reactive power charges are costing you money and what correction would save.