Power Factor Requirements Imposed by the Federal Power Marketing Agencies on Their Customers to Promote and Improve Transmission Systems

Electrical energy is lost during transmission primarily because of resistance--the property of a conductor (line) which opposes the flow of current--in the transmission and distribution system. Achieving higher power factors results in lower resistance losses; thereby causing reduced energy losses.

Transmission and distribution system power factors normally range from 75 to 100 percent. Low power factors are generally improved by installing corrective devices, such as capacitors. With judicious use of capacitors, power factors of 90 percent and higher are common.

As part of our review of national efforts to promote and improve transmission systems, we examined the power factor requirements imposed by the Federal power-marketing agencies on their customers. Primary emphasis was given to the power factor practices at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the Southwestern Power Administration (SPA), and four regions--Mid-Pacific, Upper and Lower Missouri, and Lower Colorado--of the Bureau of Reclamation.