Last updated September 12, 2026.
The plain-English version
Think of a poured beer. The liquid is the power doing work; the foam still fills the glass and
still had to be poured. Power factor is the ratio of liquid to the whole glass. A site at 0.75 power
factor is asking the grid for roughly a third more capacity than its useful work requires, and the
tariff notices.
Who has a problem with it
| Typical power factor | Sites |
|---|---|
| 0.95–1.0 (fine) | Offices, retail, mostly-electronic and resistive loads |
| 0.85–0.95 (worth checking) | Restaurants, grocery, mixed commercial with refrigeration |
| Below 0.85 (worth acting on) | Shops with large motors, welders, compressors, pumps, sawmills, irrigation, older industrial equipment |
Lightly loaded motors are the usual culprit — an oversized motor running at a fraction of
its rating has noticeably worse power factor than the same motor working properly.
Finding it on your bill
Look for a power factor figure, a kVA demand line, or a “low power factor adjustment” in the
delivery section. If your demand is billed in kVA rather than kW, you are already
paying for it whether or not a penalty line appears.
Fixing it
Correction is usually capacitor banks sized to the site, sometimes at specific pieces of
equipment. It is a well-understood, unglamorous piece of engineering with a payback you can actually
calculate — and unlike a rate change, it keeps paying every month regardless of what the market
does. Where a site warrants it, power factor correction is one of the measures included in our
Energy Cost Audit.
load will not benefit, and we will tell you so rather than sell you equipment.
Book a free Energy Cost Audit
Send us one recent electricity bill and one natural gas bill. We review both halves — the
energy you buy and the delivery charges you are billed to receive it — and come back with a
written summary of what we found and what, if anything, is worth changing. No cost, no obligation,
and no requirement to switch anything.
Upload your bills — free Energy Cost Audit
Prefer email? Send your bills to
info@getenergy.ca, or call
(780) 665-4771, Monday to Friday 9 AM–5 PM.
More for Alberta businesses
- Business energy in Alberta — the overview
- The Energy Cost Audit — what we review and what you get
- Distribution and transmission charges on a business bill
- Small business electricity rates in Alberta
- Commercial natural gas in Alberta
- Do you need an energy broker in Alberta?
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Get Energy is an Alberta competitive retailer and energy broker serving
residential, small business, farm and commercial consumers. Get Energy is a tradename of Utility
Network & Partners Inc.