Ambiguity on the Definition of Power Quantities in Electrical System

This paper aims at presenting a review of the definitions of power quantities in an electric system with distorted voltages and currents. This subject has been of interest for more than a century and over the years many definitions for reactive power and apparent power and compensation techniques have been developed. However none of these definitions characterize the distinguishing power quantities for all conditions of electrical circuit. A review of the ambiguities, confusion in the classical definition, power theories and difficulties in instrumentation, billing and compensation is presented in this paper.