Upcoming Changes to Electricity Bills

The new changes will apply to businesses who :

• Currently receive electricity bills for the Low Voltage Demand Tariff
• Consume more than 1 Megawatt Hour per year

Bills are split into two sections.

The first part of the bill relates to the charges from the retailer for the electricity consumed.

The second part of the bill relates to charges for the maintenance of the network by Energex.

Currently one of the network charges is based on maximum demand charged on the basis of maximum Kilowatts (kW) used during the billing cycle.

This charge is being changed to a charge based on Kilovolt Amps (kVA).

Power Factor of the installation is the primary determinant of the difference between Kilowatts and Kilovolts. This will ultimately affect most businesses who will see the new value of the Kilovolt Amps to be greater than the previous value of the Kilowatts.

Power Factor = kW / kVA

Power Factor = Usable Power / Total Power Available

The current demand charge per Kilowatt is $24.

A business using 100 Kilowatt maximum demand may find that they have a value of 125 Kilovolt Amps. This will result in a 25% increase to the demand charge.

100 Kilowatts at $24 = $2400

125 Kilovolt Amps at $24 = $3000

Resulting in an increase to the electricity bill of $600.

Get the advice you need on power factor correction today.