6 Signs That Your Business Needs a Power Quality Audit

Unstable and unreliable power can cripple a business – damaging equipment, causing downtime and hurting your reputation. A power quality audit is a professional diagnostic process to determine possible safety and performance issues and help businesses improve energy efficiency. Here are some signs that indicate it’s time for a comprehensive business energy audit. 

1. Voltage is too high: Almost 70% of businesses receive a higher voltage than what is required for their operation. At best, this means you are paying more than you need to in energy costs – at worst, too high voltage can damage and wear out your electrical components and equipment. A voltage optimization solution may be recommended to improve energy efficiency. 
2. Equipment overheating: If you are following best practices and performing the recommended preventative maintenance on your equipment and it’s still overheating, the issue may be your energy supply rather than your equipment. Overheating is harmful to your equipment and can easily result in safety issues, extensive downtime and costly repairs, and indicates that a business energy audit should be performed. 
3. Instrument measurement inaccuracies: Power surges and drops can affect the ability of instruments to deliver accurate measurements, which is critical in many fields of manufacturing and research. If you are finding consistent errors in instrument measurement results, a power quality audit is recommended to determine the root cause of the issue. 
4. Interference: Voltage dips and surges can cause telecommunications interference including telephone line noise, WIFI and mobile signal issues, and sound quality problems. 
5. Malfunctioning automated controls: Many facilities and businesses rely heavily on automated controls for everything from production and security to heating and cooling, and disruption of these settings can cause costly delays and downtime. Malfunctions in automated controls can be related to power surges (causing a power trip) from your building’s electrical power supply and can be detected in a business energy audit. 
6. Power tripping: Power surges from an inconsistent power supply can cause safety devices to trip electrical systems, resulting in lost productivity, frustration and compromised results. If you experience frequent nuisance trips, the power to your facility may be to blame. A power quality audit can confirm this issue as well as suggest custom solutions to prevent further power tripping issues. 

If your business or facility is suffering from one or more of these issues, it’s a good idea to have a professional team implement a power quality audit to uncover the underlying issues and suggest solutions that will help your business run smoothly and improve energy efficiency.