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CE Risks from Argentina's Drop to 209V?
stm2 asks: "Effective yesterday at 6 PM GMT, the voltage in Argentina was dropped from 220V to 209V (without any warning). The aim of this change is to save power. According to gov' officials, it won't affect domestic appliances. As a concerned IT worker I think some high precision electric devices could be at stake. There is an ongoing national debate about it. Could the technical community at Slashdot give some insights about possible unintended effects?"
As almost anything you have seen on the news from Argentina, reality is quite different.
Electricty companies have been demanding an price increment since 2 years ago, but it would be a very unpopular and "politicaly incorrect" for the government to allow it; so they need to present this as some kind of "emergency".
In the end, companies will:
a) be permited to rise prices about 25%
b) receive a direct subside from government
c) receive an indirect subside form government in form of tax excemptions, "special" fuell prices for generation, "loans" for equipment renewal, etc.
d) all of the above
Hm, IIRC, don't think it works like that. You're assuming that a device draws enough current to meet power requirements (P = VI). However, in this case V is fixed, and I is determined by resistance (R). Remember V = IR? So, the effect of fixing V at a lower value is: 1) I goes down according to V = IR, and 2) P goes down because of the new (lower) I in addition to the lower fixed V, according to P = VI.