Augos Energy / Power factor correction
Power factor correction: monitoring, survey and repair
Stop paying for poor power factor.
Augos measures power factor and demand at the half-hour that sets your bill. Our people survey and repair the correction; the platform watches it and shows when it slips.
Augos is the energy back office for multisite businesses in South Africa: energy management software, bill verification and independent advisers, checking what every site should pay against the meter and the tariff.
R450 a month per meter, ex VAT, covers every module
What the penalty is
Poor power factor shows up as demand.
On a kVA demand tariff, the charge is set by the highest half-hour of the month. Poor power factor draws more kVA for the same work, so that half-hour, and the charge it sets, is higher than it needs to be. Some tariffs add a reactive energy charge as well. Read the demand and reactive lines on your bill and you can see it.
Run it on the record
Power factor at the peak, month by month.
Power factor and avoidable demand cost by month
Illustrative| Month | Peak demand | Power factor at peak | Billed kVA | kVA at 0.98 | Avoidable demand cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 470 kW | 0.91 | 516 | 480 | R6,480 |
| Month 2 | 485 kW | 0.90 | 539 | 495 | R7,920 |
| Month 3 | 500 kW | 0.86 | 581 | 510 | R12,780 |
| Month 4 | 495 kW | 0.84 | 589 | 505 | R15,120 |
| Month 5 | 480 kW | 0.92 | 522 | 490 | R5,760 |
| Month 6 | 490 kW | 0.88 | 557 | 500 | R10,260 |
| Six monthsrand, ex VAT | 3,304 | 2,980 | R58,320 |
The three months where power factor slipped below 0.90 at the peak carry most of the avoidable demand cost.
Illustrative site and rate, not a customer. Avoidable kVA is the billed kVA less the same peak kW at 0.98.
How Augos finds the lever
Measure, act, verify on the same meter.
Power factor is one lever among four: tariff, demand, power factor and timing. The loop is the same for each.
1
Measure
Power factor and demand every 60 seconds, at the half-hour that sets the bill.
2
Survey
Our team surveys the panel and sizes the kVAr the site needs, or what the existing correction is missing.
3
Repair or install
We repair the existing correction or supply and install new, or work alongside your contractor.
4
Verify and watch
The same meter shows the change on the next peak, and a trigger alerts you if correction slips.
The film · 1:32
Every part tested. Every part recorded.
The survey, step by step: what we test, what we record and what you get.
The demand lever
Set the capacity your site needs.
Notified maximum demand bills capacity whether you use it or not. When a site's load falls, the NMD is often the largest single item one letter can change.
Pioneer Foods Estcourt Mill
175 kVA
Notified maximum demand, down from 1,500 kVA, noted by the Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality from 1 July 2025. R441,105.75 a month ex VAT: 1,325 kVA at R332.91 per kVA, the 2025/26 demand rate on the municipal invoice of July 2025, Augos calculation.
Read the Pioneer Foods Estcourt Mill case study ›Customer results, published with permission. The basis is stated on each card.
Deployed with the installer app and live minutes after installation. How we deploy ›
Free site assessment
Assess your measurement point and get a quote.
Tell us the site type, supply size and number of sites, photograph the measurement point, and we quote. Electricity now; water, gas and fuel next.
What it costs
One price per meter. The work, quoted.
R450 a month per meter, ex VAT, covers every module. Surveys, repairs and new correction are quoted to the site and the kVAr it needs.
Questions
What is the power factor penalty on my bill?
Most demand-based tariffs bill demand in kVA. Poor power factor raises the kVA drawn for the same work, so the demand charge rises, and some tariffs add a reactive energy charge in kVArh. Both lines show on the bill.
We already have power factor correction. Why measure it?
Correction degrades. A blown fuse, failed capacitor or stuck contactor stops it working, and nothing tells you until the demand charge climbs. Measuring power factor at the peak shows when it slips.
Isn't a quick look at the meter enough?
No. What sets the cost is power factor at the half-hour of peak demand, so that is where Augos measures it, not at a random moment.
Do you supply and install power factor correction, or only monitor it?
Both. Augos surveys, sizes, supplies, installs, repairs and maintains power factor correction, or works alongside your own contractor.
How do we know when correction has failed?
A trigger alerts you when power factor drops below your threshold while load is high, so you hear before the billing period closes, not after.
Is a failing capacitor bank a fire risk?
It depends on the design and condition. Heating cycles and ageing contactors can loosen connections, and harmonics can overload cables. Regular surveys catch these signs early.
What does the work cost?
Surveys, repairs and new correction are quoted to the site and the kVAr it needs. R450 a month per meter, ex VAT, covers every module.