Is power factor correction relevant to my site?
Short answer: - It depends on how your site uses electricity and how your energy supplier charges for it. Power factor correction is relevant for many commercial and industrial sites, but not all. It is most commonly needed where electricity is used to run motors and large electrical equipment, such as in manufacturing, refrigeration, air handling, pumping, or process-driven environments.
How will I know if PFC is required?
Check Your Bill:
The simplest place to start is your energy bill. If reactive charges are listed, the conditions that make power factor correction relevant are already present.
Ask Your Engineer:
If the bill is unclear, your electrical engineer or contractor can usually confirm whether your site operates the types of loads that create these charges. In many cases, they may already have the necessary information to hand.
These two checks are often enough to establish whether power factor correction is worth considering, without any technical analysis or commitment.
Possible next steps
Discuss the issue with your engineer or contractor
Your engineer or contractor will usually already have the relevant site data and understand the technical solution. What may be less familiar is the newer approach to funding these installations, where ongoing charges are used to pay for the work.
Review the plain-English guide
If you’re curious about what sits behind the numbers, this short guide provides a plain-English overview of power factor correction.
Become a Power Factor Wizard in Your Lunch Hour (PDF) is written for directors, finance teams, and environmental managers who want a general understanding of the topic, without technical depth.
Share the information internally
If useful, sharing this information with other stakeholders can be a good starting point. Engineering, finance, or board colleagues can review the same content independently.
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Note:
Power factor correction sits at the intersection of technical analysis and commercial decision-making. Engineers tend to focus on measurements and system behaviour, while finance and board-level stakeholders focus on risk and cash flow.
We exist to bring those perspectives together. By removing the budget barrier and allowing you to work with the team you already trust, technical insight and financial common sense line up, turning deferred technical projects into straightforward bottom-line savings sooner.