"Home Guy" wrote
harry wrote:

Does a "demand meter" give a more accurate measure of energy
consumption?

(I note that no explicit answer is given for that question)

The accuracy is the same range as any other meter.



It only shows the maximum. Usually they only show peaks that
last a few minutes
The purpose of a demand meter is to discourage the electric
consumer from high peaks in demand. Usually there is an
additional charge that depends on this peak.

So are you saying that customers with "demand meters" are billed on the
basis of their peak demand - a reading based on only a few minutes worth
of energy usage as seen over an entire billing period?


There is some confusion here. Power factor then is the ratio of active
power to total power.
Power factor comes into play, mostly when you have a lot of large motors.
Yes, you set the reading during startup with the inefficient motors. You
can correct this by using a bank of capacitors properly sized. Or with a
capacitor at each of the large users, such as a 150 HP air compressor.

I don't claim to understand it all, but I do know it exists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor
http://www.myronzucker.com/calmanualpg1.html


How is that a fair or equitable way to bill a customer?
Questionable, but done all the time.