Pacific Power has a set of approved standards and guidelines for electric power quality, covering areas of voltage level, range, balance, harmonic distortion, flicker, disturbances, stray voltage and frequency.

Our customers, contractors and consultants use these standards. They clarify our responsibilities and those of our electric customers in maintaining a high-quality electric service. These standards also help determine what voltage range is required to operate equipment effectively.

Good voltage regulation and power quality are essential to the efficient and reliable operation of sensitive electronic loads. Power disturbances such as transients and harmonics can destroy or shorten the life of sensitive equipment. This can result in expensive downtime and lost revenue.

Some types of equipment can adversely affect the current and voltage on the distribution system, so that sensitive equipment connected to the same circuit or equipment of a nearby customer does not function as designed. Sensitive utility equipment is vulnerable, as well. For example, a dip in voltage caused by a customer starting a motor can cause an adjacent piece of microprocessor-controlled equipment to malfunction or shut down.

For more information, see our standards in Acrobat PDF format.