Utilities suffer from CFLs’ poor power factor - PowerSource

Utilities suffer from CFLs’ poor power factor - PowerSource - Blog on EDN - 1470000147: "Every CFL light contains a small ac-dc power supply with reactive components in it that will affect the CFL’s power factor (PF) – that is, the load presented to the ac line. The closer the PF is to 1, the better. A load with low power factor (<.85) draws more current and is less efficient than a load with a high power factor for the same amount of useful power. The higher currents required by the lower PF devices mean increased energy lost in the grid due to such things as I2R losses. These power losses don’t show up directly on our electricity bill, but the utilities sure see the effects.
I put one of my home CFL bulbs on my Kill-O-Watt power meter recently and measured its power factor: It was .57. This is lousy."