Power quality directly impacts your bottom line—poor quality erodes equipment, drives up maintenance costs, and disrupts operations. High-quality power, on the other hand, ensures efficiency, reliability, and longer asset lifecycles. By investing in monitoring and proactive management, businesses can reduce hidden losses, improve productivity, and secure a competitive edge in today’s energy-intensive economy.
Category Archives: Power Quality Matters
Power Quality Matters involve detecting phase imbalances and ensuring that all phasors have equal magnitudes and are symmetrically phase-shifted by 120 degrees relative to each other.
Unbalanced power networks are more than a technical nuisance—they erode efficiency, shorten equipment lifespans, and inflate operating costs. Understanding power quality is essential for identifying hidden risks such as voltage fluctuations, harmonics, and load imbalances. By prioritizing monitoring and corrective strategies, organizations can improve reliability, reduce downtime, and ensure that their energy systems support both sustainability and long-term profitability.
NERSA’s role in South Africa’s electricity sector is pivotal, yet increasingly contested. As the regulator, it must balance utility sustainability with consumer protection, but inefficiencies, opaque processes, and inconsistent decision-making have eroded trust. A critical examination reveals the urgent need for reform—strengthening transparency, aligning with global best practices, and ensuring that regulation drives stability, efficiency, and fairness across the energy landscape.
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Power quality has a direct influence on client billing—hidden inefficiencies, voltage fluctuations, and unbalanced loads can inflate costs without delivering real value. Poor quality not only damages equipment but also distorts consumption patterns, leading to inaccurate charges and higher operational expenses. By improving monitoring and corrective measures, utilities can ensure fair billing, reduce unnecessary losses, and strengthen trust with their clients.
On the 2nd of October 2023, I published an article with the heading “Phase Imbalance in Distribution Networks” in which I stated that “In a recent unrelated “survey”, I came across a 10-minute averaged voltage unbalance of 327% between Phase 2 and Phase 1”. I also asked the question: is Eskom aware what is happening […]
Power Quality Consulting, Power Quality Monitoring
Compensating For Power Quality Issues Caused by Power Electronics Devices
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On September 24, 2023, I posed an article in which I explained how poorly maintained switchgear could lead to long-lasting power quality issues. In that article, which was based on an actual incident in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa, I mentioned that the voltages of two of the three phases increased by more than 51% while […]
In the latest newsletter which would be published on November 14, 2023, I am making another attempt, this time, to catch the attention of accountants and financial officers explaining to them how unbalanced voltages, phase-shift variations, and harmonics disturbances would result in enormous economic losses. But first, I must go back to a previous blog […]