24th International Conference on Electricity Distribution Glasgow, 12-15 June 2017

Paper 0129

UNBALANCED CURRENT BASED TARRIF

Hossein ARGHAVANI Mitra PEYRAVI
Tehran Electricity Distribution (TBTB) Co.-Iran Tehran University - Iran
[email protected] [email protected]

phase in overhead lines with respect to the earth causes

ABSTRACT an unbalance in line impedances for each phase. But
The voltage &current unbalance are serious power these differences are very small and can be neglected and
quality problems with interaction on each other and compensated by changing the position of phase
mainly affecting low-voltage electricity distribution conductors toward the line sections.
three-phase systems. In most cases, the asymmetry of the loads is the main
In a three- phase system the current unbalance is due to cause of unbalance. The low voltage loads like as
load unbalance while it is considered as the main cause residential facilities are usually single-phase.
of voltage unbalance, At high and medium voltage level the loads are usually
The electricity utilities and distribution network three-phase and balanced.
operators are responsible for providing of symmetrical The low voltage loads are usually single-phase, and load
voltages system at the point of common coupling between balance between phases is therefore difficult to guarantee.
distribution gird and customers' internal network. In the layout of an electrical wiring system feeding these
The duty of current balancing is solidarity of both of loads, the load circuits are distributed among the three-
electricity suppliers &customers. The utilities must do it phase systems, for instance one phase per floor of an
for voltage balancing by equally distribution of single- apartment or building or alternating connection in rows of
phase customers between three phases while three- phase houses. Still, the balance of the equivalent load at the
customers have no responsibility for doing it for theirs central transformers fluctuates because of the statistical
single phase loads. spread of the duty cycles of the different individual loads.
According to this article the power quality penalty and Therefore the unequal distribution of single-phase loads
unbalanced current based tariff are innovated for between three-phase lines is the main cause of current
encouraging them to do it like as utilities. &voltage unbalance.

UNBALANCE DEFINITION UNBALANCE MEASUREMENT

A three-phase power system is called balanced or There are two different methods for measurement and
symmetrical if the three phase voltages and currents have calculation of unbalance quantity for voltage &current in
the same amplitudes and phase shifting (angular a three-phase system:
difference) by 120° with respect to each other. If either or
Symmetrical Sequences
both of these conditions are not met, the system is called
unbalanced or asymmetrical. According to this method a three-phase unbalanced
It is assumed that the waveforms are sinusoidal and thus system is decomposed into three balanced components
do not contain harmonics. as: direct (positive) sequence, inverse (negative)
sequence and homopolar (zero) sequence¸ indicated by
subscripts: d (+), i (-), h (0).
UNBALANCE CAUSES
The unbalance quantity of voltages and currents are
The network operators try to provide a balanced voltage calculated by the ratio of negative to positive sequences.
system at the point of common coupling (PCC) between According to this relation the negative sequence is
the distribution gird and the customers' internal network. expressed as percentage of the positive sequence:
Under normal condition, line voltages are determined by:

- Terminal voltages of generators

- The impedance of power transmission network 100
-The loads connected to the distribution gird.

The system voltages at generation power plants are

generally symmetrical due to the construction and
operation of synchronous generators used in power
networks. Therefore the centralized generation generally
has no unbalance.
The impedance of electricity system components is not Figure1: The symmetrical sequences components of
exactly the same for each phase. The position of each an asymmetrical three-phase system

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Average of Three Phases' Values of utilities and customers (consumers) and it can be done
In this method the quantities of voltage &current by two methods as:
unbalance is measured and calculated by the ratio of Technical and economical (tariff based) method.
maximum deviation from the average of three phases' Technical method
values to the average. According to this relation the
The first and most basic technical solution for unbalance
maximum deviation from the average is expressed as
mitigation is to rearrange or redistribute the loads in such
percentage of the average:
a way that the system becomes more balanced.
The utilities and distribution network operators are
responsible for keeping the voltage unbalance under the
standard limit. If voltage unbalance at PCC exceeds the
standard limit, then firstly the customer must contact an
electrician for investigation of his private network by
testing of three-phase installations and checking for
equally distribution of single-phase loads between the
In a three-phase symmetrical system the quantities of phases.
unbalance, inverse & homopolar sequences and If the result of testing and metering prove that utility has
maximum deviation from the average are equal to zero. caused the voltage unbalance so the customer must
contact utility for resolving the problem and has the right
UNBALANCE EFFECTS of claiming for compensation of the possible damages.
Since the load unbalance is the main cause of voltage and
The current unbalance has effects as power and energy current unbalance then the duty of Load balancing must
losses as follow: be shared between both sides. The equally distribution of
Power Loss single-phase customers between three phases is the duty
of utilities & distribution operators while equally
The power losses are created because of reduction the
distribution of single–phase loads between phases is the
capacity of three-phase electrical facilities as motors,
duty of three-phase customers.
transformers, cables and lines due to negative sequence.
The operational limit is determined by RMS rating of Tariff Based Method
total current being partially made up of useless inverse The customer will be forced to do this duty by applying
sequence currents as well. The maximum capacity can be the unbalanced current based tariff & penalty.
expressed by a derating factor, to be supplied by the For this purpose the first step is limits determination for
manufacturer, which can be used to select a larger current & voltage unbalance according to the
system. The negative and positive voltage sequences are international standards or national rules and the next step
transformed by transformers. But the behavior of is tariff definition according to the determined limits.
homopolar voltage sequences depends on the primary and
secondary windings connection. If one side has a three- UNBALANCE STANDARDS AND LIMITS
phase four wire connection, neutral currents can flow. If Voltage Unbalance
at the other side the winding is delta-connected, the
homopolar current is transformed into a circulating (and There are different standards about the limits of voltage
heat causing) current in the delta. unbalance:
The American National Standard for Electric Power
Energy Loss Systems and Equipment ANSI C84.1 recommends that
The copper (energy) loss is proportional to the square "electric supply systems should be designed and
root of current and then increase due to current operated to limit the maximum voltage unbalance up
unbalance. For example: to 3% when measured at the electric-utility revenue
meter no-load conditions." [1], [4]
The National Equipment Manufacturers Association
(NEMA) only requires motors to give rated output for 1%
of voltage unbalance per NEMA MG-1-1998.
The standard states that 1% of voltage current unbalance
can create 6-10% current unbalance. [2], [4]
It proves that 33% of current unbalance cause to 16%
of energy losses. International standards as EN-50160 and IEC 1000-3-
series give limits for the unbalance voltage calculated by
UNBALANCE LIMITATION the ratio of sequences method up to 2% for LV and MV
systems measured as 10-minute values with an
For decreasing the effects of unbalance, this power
instantaneous maximum of 4%.
quality problem must be managed and mitigated by both
More detailed standardization can be found in IEC

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61000-2-x, as a part of EMC standardization, and EN

50160 describing the voltage characteristic at the point of
common coupling (PCC). [3]
Current Unbalance
Unfortunately there is no standard for current unbalance.
But by attention to the NEMA MG-1 standard the
maximum standard limit of current unbalance due to 3%
of voltage unbalance can be advised as 30%.
Power Unbalance

The voltage &current unbalance cause to power

unbalance. The quantity of power unbalance can be
measured or calculated same as voltage and current
unbalance by means of sequences or average methods:

=100
POWER QUALITY PENALTY
According to the power factor(reactive) based tariff and
load factor based tariff that are defined previously [5]
and the unbalanced current based tariff that is defined
There is no standard limit for power unbalance amplitude here, an extra charge as power quality penalty is applied
but the ideal quantity of it can be derived from the to those customers consuming electricity energy with
standard limits advised for voltage and current unbalance: poor power quality parameters like power factor, load
factor and three-phase unbalanced current etc.
This overhead cost encourages the customers toward
improving their bad load profile and poor power quality
parameters for money saving.
The electricity tariffs &penalties based on power quality
parameters can be used by electricity utilities as a method
of demand side management (DSM).
ENERGY UNBALANCE This kind of tariffs and penalties are proportional to the
ratio of power quality parameters in two different
The electricity energy measured by (kWh) unit is equal to conditions: ideal and real.
the area under the power-time curve and is calculated by The ideal amount determines the maximum or minimum
multiplying of average power (kW) to the time (Hour). limit of power quality parameters according to the
For measuring of power unbalance during a period of international standards or national rules while the real
time we need to the average power that is derived by power quality parameter can be measured by metering
dividing of energy to the time of energy consumption. and calculated by definition a formula.
Then the average power unbalance in a three-phase If the real amount of parameter be equal to the ideal
system during a time can be determined by metering and amount so the ratio will be equal to 1 and the customer
recording of energy consumption of each phase will not pay any penalty and extra charge.
separately. As the power unbalance quantity depends on When the real (measured) power quality parameter be not
the amplitude and angle then the active and reactive equal to the standard limit so the customer must pay a
energy consumed by each phase must be measured and penalty or extra charge according to the electricity bill .
recorded by the utility's metering device. When the real power quality parameter is not equal with
the standard limit then there are two states:
Maximum Limit of Power Quality Parameter
If the utility has defined a maximum limit as the ideal
amount of a power quality parameter, so the power
quality based tariff is proportional to the amount of:
Figure 2: The diagram of apparent power's vector
and its active and reactive components in a single-
phase and symmetrical three-phase system

| Like as the standard limit of power factor ( ) that is

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determined as o.85- 0.9 in the most utilities as the UNBALANCED CURRENT BASED TARIFF
maximum (ideal) amount. So the power quality based
tariff is proportional to the amount of ( ).
In balanced voltages three-phase system, the current
unbalance is appeared due to the loads are differing
In this case the electricity energy bill (E-bill) according by amplitudes and/or angles (phase shifting) in each
to the power quality tariff is calculated as:
phase to the other phases.fig.3:

Figure 3: The diagram of voltages and currents

vectors' in a symmetrical voltages three-phase system
with unbalanced loads (currents).

Reactive (Power Factor) Penalty = (1)-(2)

=Loss factor (LF)

For example if the standard limit of power factor in a Amplitudes' Unbalance

utility be 0.9 and the average power factor of customer
during a period be 0.8 then: In a three-phase system if the average active and
reactive power or energy consumption of three
phases are measured separately as:
It means that the customer must pay a penalty of 12.5%
furthermore than the standard condition with = 0.9.

Minimum Limit of Power Quality Parameter

Where the utility according to the national or its internal

rules defines a minimum limit for a power quality
parameter as the ideal amount so the power quality based
tariff will be proportional to the amount of:

≥1

The ideal amount of amplitude unbalance of power or

energy consumption in the three-phase systems
previously is advised as ( ) so the power quality 0

based tariff is proportional to the ratio of .

In this case the electric bill (E-bill) according to the
power quality based tariff is calculated by:

Power Quality Penalty = LF= 3 -1=3 -1= (3⤬1) -1=2=200%

It means that when one phase has no load and the other
phases are equally loaded then the unbalanced current
penalty is 200% of the ordinary tariff in the balanced
amplitudes condition.

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derived with effecting of both of amplitude and angular

unbalance:

Unbalanced current penalty =

LF= 3 -1=3 -1= (3⤬2) -1=5=500%
This amount of penalty is too much, illogical and not
possible. In such conditions the electricity bill based on
unbalanced amplitudes' current based tariff can be For example if the utility's power meter has recorded the
calculated easily by tripling of the maximum amplitude: unbalanced components of energy consumption for a
three-phase customer during a period as follow, so the
LF=2=200% electricity bill due to the unbalanced current based tariff,
penalty and loss factor are calculated in two conditions
Then the maximum penalty due to the current unbalance with and without current unbalance effect as:
in the worst condition can't exceed 200% of the ordinary
tariff in the balanced condition.
Phase Shifting (Angular) Unbalance 1-Solution without the unbalance effect:
If a three- phase balanced voltage system at PCC is
loaded at the customer side with balanced active energy
and unbalanced reactive energy consumption in a period
of time in this system the customer has consumed power
with balanced current amplitudes and unbalanced average
power factors, so the current and power is unbalanced
and the customer be penalized and pay an extra charge.
power is unloads are balanced in the amplitude( with It means that the customer must pay 5% penalty due to
same active powers) but unbalanced in power factors (not the power factor neglecting the unbalance effect.
same 3-phase reactive powers) so the current is
unbalanced due to phase shifting of current's vectors that 2- Solution with the unbalance effect:
is not 120° with respect to each other in the customer's
side

The difference of loss factors (LF) in two conditions is

7% and then the customer's bill with effect of current
unbalance is 7% more than the balanced current.

REFERENCES
[1] American National Standard for Electrical Power
Systems and Equipment, 1995, voltage ratings,
ANSI C84. 1
[2] National Electrical Manufacturers Association
In a balanced voltage system the unbalanced power (NEMA), 1998, motors and generators, MG1
factors cause to current unbalance due to the different [3] Dr. J. Driesen & Dr.T.V. Craenenbroeck, 2002,
angular (phase shifting). In this case the three-phase "Power Quality Application Guide, Introduction to
power factors will be substituted in the LF formula Unbalance", European Copper Institute, Belgium
separately instead of single-phase power factor: [4] Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 2009, "voltage
unbalance and motors".
[5] H. Arghavani, 2011, "load factor based tariff",
CIRED conference, paper 0368
Amplitudes & Angular Unbalance [6] CHK Grid Sense PTY Ltd., "voltage and current
The final formula of unbalanced current based tariff is unbalance", West Sacramento, Australia.
[7] J. Teylor, 2011, "load imbalance", MILSOFT con.

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