Quick question about Dominion Energy Virginia's power factor billing. Our Staunton facility is on Schedule GS-3 and we're seeing power factor penalties that don't make sense. The tariff says penalties apply when PF drops below 0.85, but we're getting charged when our monthly average is 0.87. The penalty was $340 last month. Has anyone seen Dominion apply the 0.85 threshold incorrectly? I'm wondering if they're using instantaneous readings instead of monthly averages like the tariff states.
Dominion Energy Schedule GS-3 power factor calculation error?
Alice, that sounds like a billing error. GS-3 schedules typically use monthly average power factor calculated from total kWh and kVARh. If you're consistently above 0.85 monthly average, you shouldn't be getting penalties. I'd request detailed billing data from Dominion showing exactly how they're calculating your power factor. Sometimes their billing systems have software bugs that apply penalties incorrectly.
Thanks Randy. I called Dominion and they're supposed to send me the detailed kWh/kVARh data for the past six months. The customer service rep seemed confused about the power factor calculation method, which doesn't give me confidence. I'll post an update once I get the data and can verify their calculations.