Abnormal creation of over voltage : An

unhealthy situation concotted by M/S

Reliance Energy Limited.

Power factor surcharge / incentive :

The whole issues is centered around the power factor
scheme. For any commercial utility to use electrical energy
here in Mumbai they have to generate their own reactive
power. If the utility takes the reactive power from the grid
they have to pay for it.

Fine :
How ? If the utility maintains the power factor to 90% or
above it will just escape the fine and if it maintains below
90% for each percent below it has to pay 2% of the whole
fixed charge and the variable charge. The meter takes
reading of each half hourly average.

Power factor incentive :

If the utility maintains power factor above 95% then for
each percent above 95% it will earn a 1% incentive.
95% = 1% incentive
96% = 2% incentive
97% = 3% incentive
98% = 4% incentive
99% = 5% incentive
100% & above = 7% incentive

Now the point is here in 7% incentive. Other utilities

like Tata Power Corporation (TPC) , the Bombay State
Electricity & Transport (BEST) and the Maharashtra State
Electricity Board gives full incentive the moment you
achieve 99.6% or more but for REL it has to be 100% or
above. Many utility have lost full incentive many times only
because the power factor was just 99.75% or 99.70%

However, as per REL they have a handful of customers who

earn full 7% incentive every month.

The question comes how ?

For maintaining 100% power factor all through the month

one has to maintain power factor slightly to the leading
side. Say 0.97 leading all through the month. Otherwise
just one slip and it will loose 2% straight way.

Now what happens to the line voltage ?. The moment you

increase the power factor to leading side your supply
voltage goes up. In a typical case the 230 volt phase to
neutral voltage shoots upyo 236 volts.

For earning the 7% full incentive you go on maintaining the

power factor to say 0.97 leading and the incentive you
start earning will be lost in replacing the burnt out tube
lights , CFLs , AC compressor motors , computers SMPS and
what not ?

Your UPS , inverters will be maintaining higher line voltage

causing irreparable damages to your computer mother
boards , SMPS and many more. Now just imagine all the
REL customers for earning 7% incentive went on
maintaining slightly leading power factor and the result will
be a huge fluctuation of the line voltage in the
neighborhood (particularly on the higher side ).

Fantastic ! The hardware manufacturer will find all their

products gets exhausted inside Mumbai only. There is no
need for exporting outside mumbai . Long live REL power
factor policy.

Based on this apprehension the other utilities have kept the

cut off point at 99.6% but see REL ! They are
different. Their electricity charges are more than any
other utilities in India.

Customer is not their concern at all. They only see profits.

Who knows may be the REL and the hardware
manufacturers are hand in glove.

Key word: power factor : It is the cosine of the angle

between the voltage and the current of your AC power.
Typically for a unity power factor the voltage and the
current lies in the same plane.

A Mumbai Resident
Mumbai