Utilities are Looking Deeper into Power Quality

摘要

Interest in the subject of power quality has grown a great deal in just the last few years. New people are becoming involved both in and outside of the electric utility. Once the domain of planning and protection engineers, it is now often centered in the marketing and customer service departments. Outside the utility, interest in power quality is expanding beyond the heavy smokestack industries of steel, refining and auto making. Some light industries, financial services and large commercial enterprises are becoming aware of the costs of poor power quality. Others are aware that power quality is important to their business but don't know how to begin. The scope of the study of power quality is also growing. The traditional definition of power quality is now called reliability. While still an important factor, power quality now includes measure and control of many other factors pertaining to the distribution and use of electric power and energy. Utilities are becoming interested, not only in the amount of power used by their customers, but also how it is used. This can enable them to provide better service to their customers by matching the type of service to the customer's needs.