- A typical Aggregate Load mixture of impedance and other loads including fridges, washing machines, computers, and motors in light industry and commercial premises can be reasonably expected to have a voltage dependency index of around 1. Mathematically this is P
V1 or P is proportional to V.
- In this latter case, which appears to be a close approximation to publicly available empirical data on the subject(1), a 6 per cent increase in voltage will cause "only" a 6 per cent increase in electricity retailer revenue.
- Six per cent of Victoria's $1.9bn(2) commercial/residential load amounts to over $100 million worth of electricity annually. This would appear to be the amount of "revenue elasticity" if retailers chose to modulate the average supply voltage between say 250 volts and 235 volts.
- Random measurements over several inner western and western suburbs in the past three years suggest that average household daytime voltages in non-extreme conditions tend to fall within a very narrow band of 245 to 250 volts.
(1) Pat O'Kane's article at http://www.dmg.co.uk/powerlines/ipg/td9801.htm
(2) ...assuming average price of 10 cents/kWh = $100/MWh