ElectricitySaverIreland.com

loopymum

Hi, my other half is self employed and runs a commerical business, lots of fridges and freezers and compressors running etc and 3 phase power.
Electric bill comes in on average at €24k per annum (yikes)

He has been approached by the above company ElectricitySaverIreland.com to install the their ES-37 Smart Power Saver at a cost of €210 + Vat and €70 + VAT per month charge with a 90 change of mind from the date of install. It's a 3 year contract which comes to €2520 +Vat or €3099.60 inc VAT.

Anybody any experience of them and is there money to be saved?

Thanks
loopy

brightspark

A quick look at their website indicates it's a power factor correction device.

What power factor does he currently have at his premises?

A guide to wattless published by the esb

https://www.electricireland.ie/business/help/efficiency/wattless-charges-for-business---explained

loopymum

The meter says the power factor is .87 but it is fluctuating

brightspark

He does need to improve his power factor correction then. (Needs to be 0.95 at least)

but there are other companies who can do this work so perhaps he should get another couple of quotes to see how they compare?

(He also needs to see how much the low power factor is currently costing him, so that he can see what savings can be made)

loopymum

brightspark wrote: »

He does need to improve his power factor correction then. (Needs to be 0.95 at least)

but there are other companies who can do this work so perhaps he should get another couple of quotes to see how they compare?

(He also needs to see how much the low power factor is currently costing him, so that he can see what savings can be made)

Thanks brightspark, I don't understand the powerfactor thing but will do some reading up on it from your links.
Could you pm me the names of the other companies you know?

brightspark

As far as I am aware most of the industrial electrical contractors should be able to install power factor correction equipment.

An ideal power factor is unity or 1.00, but you only get penalised by the supply company when the power factor is less than 0.95.

Electrical loads can be resistive (such as heaters), inductive (such as motors), or capacitive (usually the power factor correction equipment, but there are others).

Some equipment can have power factor correction built in by having appropriately sized capacitors included (e.g. small equipment such as fluorescent lights and some large equipment such as compressors, but not always).

When an installation has too many inductive loads it is necessary to install banks of capacitors to compensate, these are usually switched in and out with a controller to maintain a power factor of just greater than 0.95.

In simple terms power factor correction systems work like a balance scales, adding capacitance when the inductive load gets too high, then reducing it when the load drops again.

I have seen industrial sites where the power factor correction equipment was installed but had failed due to a minor issue, perhaps this could be the case in your husbands premises.

ted1

loopymum wrote: »

Thanks brightspark, I don't understand the powerfactor thing but will do some reading up on it from your links.
Could you pm me the names of the other companies you know?

Best explantion is a pint of beer
The beer is what you use, the head is wasted but takes up room in the pint glass. A lower power factor means more head in the pint glass.

In your current bill do you see a line item for wattles charges?