Power Factor for AC Pumps

[sphelps]

Yeah she gave me a similar response today as well...

Good afternoon Steven,

Thank you for contacting ENMAX. My name is Nancy and I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry.

Your ENMAX electric meter measures the amount of power being utilized by your residence.

I did find an article online which may be of interest to you: http://lifeislikethat.com/?p=847.

Steven, should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reply to this email and I will be happy to assist you. Alternatively, you may contact our Customer Care Centre at 310-2010 (Toll Free in Alberta) Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Thank you for granting ENMAX the opportunity to be of service for you.

Yours truly,


Nancy C.
Customer Correspondence Team
ENMAX and City Utilities

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Nancy C

Raied, ENMAX meters measure wattage usage

it took her a while to track someone down who knew what the deuce you guys were nattering about.

[sphelps]

Not only that but she really didn't answer the question at all, honestly I think she has no idea what we're talking about. This is the inquiry I sent:

Hello,

As a current customer I'm investigating some techniques for energy saving in my home and I have question relating to power factors and whether a typical residential meter measures apparent power or real power.
For example if I have a load such as pump that has a power factor of 0.5 the current in the circuit will be twice that of what the actual device is using, if the measured current is 5A then the apparent power is 575W on a 115V circuit while the real power used by the device is 288W.
The question I have is does a residential meter measure and bill for real power or apparent power? Is it worth investing in new devices with higher power factors if the goal is reduce electricity cost?

Judging by the response it's pretty clear she has no idea what we're on about and relied on google to quickly find an article that somewhat discusses power factor.

[mrhasan]

Exactly! Come on we know that the usage is based on the wattage meter but the question generally was how/what power does it read. Oh well

[Delphinus]

I'm late to this party, holy moly my head is swimming after reading it from beginning to end. Anyhow, I always thought your billing was based, more or less, on the "loss of potential". I haven't seen that term thrown about in here so now it's in there.

And electrons. I'm pretty sure electricity has something to do with electrons.

And Shaw has little robots that live in your house's wires.

Word.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

And electrons. I'm pretty sure electricity has something to do with electrons.

Ummm...electrons? wat's that? can you post a picture? doesn't sound like reef safe to me

[reefermadness]

Residence are only charged for REAL power, not APPARENT power (power factor).

Real power is measured in watts and apparent power is measured in VA (volt-amps).

You will notice on your bill you are being charged a measurement of watts which is real power.