"jim rozen" wrote: For residential meters which measure only the in-phase
component, they have no effect whatsoever.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The I^2R losses in the circuit are based on the vector sum of the in-phase
component and the quadrature component. If the power factor is not one,
this resultant current is larger, so the meter reading goes up accordingly.
The electric company is not going to let you heat your wires for nothing.