110608-0912 EDT
The reference in post #8 is very poorly written and really does not give a good picture of why power factor correction devices are not effective in reducing the residential customer's cost. The the residential power (energy) meter does not measure amps, or VA, or power factor. Thus, the description given does not describe what is really taking place.
Other posts discussed current and what it is doing. Again not the real issue. If you really believe that the power meter on the side of your house measures current, then you deserve to be scammed.
The KWH meter on a home measures the instantaneous product (multiplication) of the instantaneous voltage and current at the point of entry to the house (instantaneous power), and this instantaneous product is integrated (a mathematical term for accumulating) to register on the dials your accumulated energy usage modulo something like 100,000 KWH. My meter rolls over about every 6 years.
There is a slight assumption made in these meters for single phase 120-0-120 applications. There is only one voltage coil used in combination with two current coils. Also there are adjustments for calibration to improve the dynamic range of the instrument.
In theory the meter works for non-sinusoidal waveforms. But for an easy way, without using integral calculus, to see what the meter does make the assumption of sine waves.
If you assume the voltage is a sine wave and the current is also a sine wave (many residential loads are ones that have a sine wave current waveform from a voltage sine wave source --- such as linear loads of resistance, capacitance, and inductance), the instantaneous power is
p = K * sin t * sin (t + A)
The integrated value of p with respect to time is what the KWH meter reads.
This can be broken into two parts
p-real = K1 * sin t * sin t
p-reactive = K2 * sin t * cos t
If you look up trig identities you find that
sin t * cos t = sin 2t / 2
If you average this over an integer number of cycles the result is exactly 0.
If you integrate this over an arbitrary starting point and arbitrary ending point, but include many in between cycles, then the starting and ending errors are small compared to the total.
So the reactive component flowing thru the KWH meter produces a 0 effect on the meter reading, and changing the power factor of the house as seen by the meter has no influence on the bill.
What you are billed for is the in-phase component and it produces
sin t * sin t = (1/2) * ( 1 - cos (2t) )
This averages to 1/2. When you integrate this with respect to time the result continuously increases with time.
The simplest thing to say is that the power company meter reads the cumulative amount of real energy used. Real energy is energy that does work for you. Typical power factor correction devices only have an effect on reactive current (or reactive energy) and do not affect the power meter reading, and therefore do not affect your cost. Simply measuring current is not how you measure power or energy. Thus, use of an ammeter to show a current change between when a power factor correction device is connected or disconnected is plain outright fraud.
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