Frequently Asked Questions

What is Power Quality? And how does it save money?

Q. What is "power quality"? And how does it save money?

A. Your electric utility company or generator system is tasked with supplying your facility with a steady source of electrical power: a predictable, stable frequency; a dependable, steady source of maximum current. Any deviation from these three targets, at your supply point or inside your facility, is a deviation from the ideal, and is referred to as a "power quality" problem. Of course, the presence of each of these three factors at your supply and inside all points of your electrical system is considered perfect power quality.

Fact: No facility has perfect power quality. In fact, within today's increasingly complex electrical systems, power quality is an often overlooked and costly element. There is a widely held myth that poor power quality has no cost, so long as there are no obvious, clearly seen manifestations, such as tripping breakers, burning of equipment or electronics, or erratic production operations. In fact, the same variations from perfection of voltage, frequency, and current supply that cause these problems when present in sufficient magnitude also cost money when at smaller, less obvious values, even if there are no overt "problems." Electronic and motor loads are regularly damaged and affected by poor power quality, and create the greatest costs. Unwanted variations in voltage or frequency cause cumulative wear in both types of loads. A weak current source starves these loads of power and creates over-hot operation, which leads to premature failure.

Motors are silent witnesses to the cumulative effect of poor power quality. Because of their long operating lifetimes, motors are usually just replaced or repaired as they fail, and the cause of the failure is often not diagnosed.

Poor power quality issues can cut motor lifetimes in half. Would you like to double the operating life of your motors?

Our system improves your Power Quality.

Project Design

Q. What is a "Project Design," and what does it do for me?

A. Correcting the power quality issues in a specific facility is not as easy as changing light bulbs or replacing a few motors; either of these requires only very simple information that can be found on equipment nameplate. And, that's why the companies that sell these products can perform the initial design work at no charge to a customer. It's really easy to do. And, the lights and motors recommended will be selected from a number of stock, off-the-shelf products maintained in inventory by the supplier. The only purpose of the initial "design" work is to permit the vendor to know which models and what quantities of these products will be needed in that job.

Sadly, our life is not that simple. First, we do not have "off-the-shelf" products; everything we specify into a job is custom-made for not only that job, but also for the precise piece of equipment or exact point in the electrical system it is intended to be placed.

Secondly, we cannot have a "standard" approach to our work; every single facility is sufficiently different to make this cookie-cutter approach impossible for us. In fact, we cannot even successfully do our job based upon examining even detailed plans of a facility's electrical system. Our design work must be based upon observed and measured data from, literally, every single electrical load and circuit in your entire facility. All of your equipment and each of your electrical circuits forms a highly interactive whole, that ultimately connects to your building's electricity meter. It is only by thoughtful and detailed evaluation of each separate element in this overall system that we can responsibly arrive at the most cost-effective set of treatment recommendations for your facility.

What degree of savings can I see?

Q. What degree of billing savings can I really expect?

A. Don't you really mean, "How good of a return will I see if I invest in your approach?"

What if we could reduce your electricity bill by 80%? Wouldn't that be great? But, what if it took 25 years for this savings amount to reimburse you for the cost of our work? Would it still be a great deal?

No way.

What if we could only reduce your electricity bill by 3%...but the savings paid for the cost of the work in six months? Would that be a good deal? Of course.

Depending upon the conditions of your electrical system, the mix of equipment, lighting, and air conditioning you have, your normal hours of operation, and a variety of power quality issues, we could see project design results in your facility of from 5% to 35% billing savings, with payback periods of from 10 months to over 100 months. Typically, the range is narrower, from 10% to 20% savings, and with payback around 36 months.