Voltage Regulation: Standards-based Compliance

Abstract

Voltage regulation—the ability to maintain steady‑state RMS voltage within acceptable bounds—affects equipment performance, protection, and customer experience. Distributed energy resources (DER) add complexity via bidirectional power flow and daytime voltage rise that must be managed without violating standards and overvoltaging equipment.

ANSI C84.1‑2020 is the reference for steady‑state service and utilization voltage bands (Range A preferred; Range B tolerable). Annex D of ANSI C84.1 is informative on DER‑related voltage rise.

PQ Canvass includes a Voltage Regulation report that evaluates recorded RMS voltage against ANSI C84.1 at the selected connection point. The report assembles a summary, time‑in‑tolerance, excursion plots/tables, daily profiles, percentile histograms, and observations.

This whitepaper aims to:

Summarize ANSI C84.1 with service vs. utilization context and common program practice.
Highlight the standards’ significance for utilities and end users.
Show how to configure and run the Voltage Regulation report in PQ Canvass.
A walkthrough of the report contents and how to best interpret the results.