The ratio of the maximum electric demand of a system to the total connected load of a system. For example, an 80% demand factor would indicate that only 80% of the connected load would ever be operating simultaneously. As an electric utility, we calculate the size of our conductors and equipment based on our experience of the type of customer and load served, not on the total connected load.

For an electrical system, this is a ratio of the amount of load (in kVa or amperes) that is operating at the same time to the total amount of connected load on the circuit. An 80% demand factor, for instance, indicates that only 80% of the connected load on a circuit will ever be operating at the same time. Conductor capacity can be based on that amount of load.

ratio of average demand to maximum demand.