On Thu, 17 Apr 2014 08:38:27 +0100, harryagain wrote:


"Uncle Peter" wrote in message
news
Can someone confirm that power factor is NOT taken into consideration for
domestic supplies? I have a feeling it isn't, but I can't find any
information on the internet. If it matters, it's a modern (5 years old)
electronic meter I have. The power factor in my house is an average of
0.7 so depending if it's charged for or not, my bill could be completely
different.


The very fact that you pay for kilowatt hours (Kwh) not kilovoltamps hours
(Kvah) tells you that power factor is not accounted for.
Only commercial organisations might be asked to pay for Kvah.

I know they call it kWh, but that doesn't mean that's what they charge for :-)

I wanted to make sure that what my own meters read was the same as what theirs does. My own meters show power factor, but I think the price they show is not based on that reading. It's not clear though, as one of them (newer version of the same model!!) shows kW as kW, but the other shows kW when it's actually reading kVA. For example, one might read 240V, 2A, 480W, PF 0.7. The other will read 240V, 2A, 336W, PF 0.7. I think when I watched the costs going up on the counters, they both seemed to be calculating cost from VxAxPF, despite what was shown as "kW".

--
I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like my Uncle Bob. Not screaming in terror like his passengers...