How Texture estimates transformer loading

Texture sums the meters beneath the transformer and compares the result to nameplate kVA

A distribution transformer almost never reports its own load, so Texture estimates it by summing the meters beneath that transformer and comparing the result to the transformer's nameplate rating.

This is why a transformer with no meters placed under it has no loading to show, and why a transformer whose GIS record carries no real rating can show load without utilization.

How the number is calculated#

1. Topology determines which meters sit downstream of the transformer.
2. For each interval, the readings are expressed in kVA using kVA = √(kW² + kVAR²), or kW ÷ 0.95 where reactive power is unavailable.
3. The highest single-interval kVA across the window is taken as peak kVA.
4. Utilization is 100 × peak kVA ÷ rated kVA.

Where reactive power is not measured, Texture assumes a power factor of 0.95.

The rating must come from GIS, and Texture does not treat a placeholder as a nameplate rating, so when GIS carries a placeholder instead of a real kVA figure, load cannot be compared against it.

Utilization can exceed 100% under high demand. Generation flowing back through the transformer is counted the same way as demand, so a transformer serving a solar-heavy feeder can also show high utilization.