PPL is billing Lehigh Valley Hospital for reactive power under Rider REP. Hospital's power factor has been running 0.88-0.91, mostly above the 0.90 threshold. But they're still getting $800-1200/month in reactive charges. PPL says it's based on 15-minute intervals. Anyone know how to analyze this properly?
Lehigh Valley Hospital reactive power charges
You need 15-minute interval data to see when PF drops below 0.90. Even brief periods count. Hospitals have equipment that cycles on/off - especially HVAC and medical imaging. One MRI startup can tank your power factor for 30 minutes.
Update: Got the 15-minute data from PPL. Power factor drops to 0.82-0.85 every morning between 6-8 AM when they start up multiple imaging systems simultaneously. Installing switched capacitor bank with fast response time.
Reactive power billing in healthcare facilities requires careful analysis of load patterns and equipment cycling. Fixed capacitor banks often aren't sufficient - you need automatic switching to match varying reactive loads.
I've seen this at VCU Medical Center. The billing is based on any 15-min interval below 0.90, not monthly average. Need to install continuous monitoring to identify the problem equipment and operating patterns.
PPL's Rider REP charges $1.50 per kVAR for any reactive power above 30% of real power demand. Hospitals typically need automatic capacitor switching, not just fixed banks, because the load varies so much.
Similar issue at Biloxi Regional Medical Center with Mississippi Power. Switched capacitors solved it but make sure they're rated for medical grade harmonic distortion. Standard capacitors can fail quickly in hospital environments.