Dear All,
just would like to add my 2 cents on this, I am based in Italy.
Well what Martin writes is applicable over here as well.
For the normal house supply we have 220 volt single phase, with a choice of power
thats starts with 3kw, than 4.5, than 6kw max. Of course more power you require in your contract
the more money you pay.If you need more than 6kw is necessary to switch to a 3 phase meter that normally starts with 10kw.
The standard here is that we do not pay for reacrive power up to 10kw 3 phase supply. Above 10kw you pay for the kvar only if the kvar used are more than 75% than the active power.
What usually happens is that you get called by a customer, typically a commercial one, because on his energy invoice he/she is debited for the excess kvar, as a matter of fact on the invoice is clearly specifed how much kvar one is using and if it is above 75% of the active power.
The meters are electronic ones and just by browsing a kind of menu on the meter itself is possible to read and check how much kvar is used.
This is for the avarege 100kw supply configuration.
Nobody would even dream to try and sell a pfc unit to a house customer, is diffcult enough with the commercial ones.!
Bye for now,
Giovanni