Manufacturing client in Youngstown just got slammed with an $18,000 power factor penalty from FirstEnergy Ohio Edison for August. They're claiming PF dropped to 0.72 during peak periods on the GS-3 rate schedule. Client swears their correction capacitors are working fine and were serviced in June. Has anyone dealt with FirstEnergy's new digital meters giving false readings? Their tariff language is pretty vague about measurement methodology. Looking for any similar experiences or suggestions on how to challenge this.
FirstEnergy hit us with $18K power factor penalty - need advice
Jim, I've seen Georgia Power pull similar stunts with their new AMI meters down here in Atlanta. The key is getting the interval data and demand whether they're measuring at 15 or 30 minute intervals. FirstEnergy should provide you with the actual PF readings for each interval period under Ohio's utility regulations. If the capacitors were recently serviced, there might be a control issue or the contractor didn't properly reconnect everything. Have your client check if any of their large motors or drives were cycling differently in August.
FirstEnergy's been aggressive lately here in Cleveland too. Your client needs to request the power quality data logs immediately - they're only required to keep them for 60 days. Also check if any equipment was added or modified in July/August that could have changed the load profile. Sometimes new VFDs or computers can throw off PF if not properly filtered. The $18K penalty suggests this was sustained over multiple billing periods, not just a few bad days.
Had a similar issue with TVA here in Tennessee last year. Turned out the capacitor bank controller was malfunctioning and not switching stages properly during high demand periods. The client's maintenance crew thought everything was fine because they only checked during low-load times. Get an independent power quality analysis done before you challenge FirstEnergy - it'll cost maybe $2K but could save you the full penalty if you find meter errors.
Check FirstEnergy's tariff Schedule GS-3 section 4.2 - they have to use a 12-month rolling average for PF penalties, not single month readings. If this is truly the first month below 0.85, they can't assess the penalty yet. Duke Energy tried to pull this on one of my Charlotte clients until I pointed out their own tariff language. Also verify they're measuring at the right voltage level - some utilities try to measure PF at the transformer instead of the service point.
Update: Got the interval data from FirstEnergy and you were right Terry - the capacitor controller was stuck. Maintenance found a blown fuse in the control circuit that happened during a storm in late July. The $18K penalty is being reduced to $4,200 for the actual period before they fixed it. Still fighting the measurement methodology since they used instantaneous readings instead of 15-minute averages like their tariff states.
Great outcome Jim! That's exactly why getting the detailed data is crucial. The instantaneous vs average measurement issue is huge - most industrial loads have natural fluctuations that can momentarily drop PF below 0.85 even with proper correction. Keep pushing on that tariff interpretation, it could eliminate the remaining penalty entirely.