A metric used to evaluate how efficiently an electrical network or consumer utilizes power capacity. It is calculated by dividing the average power consumption by the maximum peak demand during a day, month, or year. A high percentage indicates steady, efficient utilization of the infrastructure, while a low percentage means the utility must maintain expensive generation capacity that sits idle most of the time.
The industrial plant improved its load factor from 60 to 85 percent by shifting heavy pumping operations to the night shift.
Related terms
Power factor
Ratio of active power to apparent power, showing how much of the current drawn does useful work.
Load shedding
Deliberate disconnection of blocks of customer load to stop frequency or voltage from collapsing.
Active power
The part of electrical power that does real work, averaged over each cycle and measured in watts.