Will the use of AdaptiVolt™ decrease the life span of Load tap changers (LTCs) and step voltage regulators?

No, the implementation of AdaptiVolt™ will not significantly reduce the life of LTCs and voltage regulators.

Many manufactures of Load Tap Changers offer contact life cycles of up to 500,000 operations before contact replacement is required. (e.g. Waukesha Transformers, MR On-Load Tap-Changer VACUTAP® VV, and ABB Transformers). Over a forty year period, this would be equal to 34 tap changes per day.

Some voltage regulators have contact rated lifetimes up to 2,000,000 changes (e.g. GE Regulators, GE VR-1 Single Phase Step Voltage Regulator). This is equivalent to 136 tap changes a day for forty years.

The maximum number of tap change operations induced by normal AdaptiVolt™ operation can be set by the utility. Normal averages between 10-30 changes per day would be seen for optimum AdaptiVolt™ based energy conservation and demand control.