The accuracy of a CT is affected by a number of factors including:

 Burden
 Burden class/saturation class
 Rating factor
 Load
 External electromagnetic fields
 Temperature
 Physical configuration
 The selected tap, for multi-ratio CTs
 Phase change
 Capacitive coupling between primary and secondary
 Resistance of primary and secondary
 Core magnetizing current

Per the IEC standard, accuracy classes for various types of measurement are defined in IEC
61869-1 as Classes 0.1, 0.2s, 0.2, 0.5, 0.5s, 1 and 3. The class designation is an approximate
measure of the CT's accuracy. The ratio (primary to secondary current) error of a Class 1 CT is
1% at rated current; the ratio error of a Class 0.5 CT is 0.5% or less. Errors in phase are also
important especially in power measuring circuits. Each class has an allowable maximum phase
error for a specified load impedance.

Current transformers used for protective relaying also have accuracy requirements at overload
currents in excess of the normal rating to ensure accurate performance of relays during system
faults. A CT with a rating of 2.5L400 specifies with an output from its secondary winding of 20
times its rated secondary current (usually 5 A × 20 = 100 A) and 400 V (IZ drop) its output
accuracy will be within 2.5 percent.

Burden[edit]

The secondary load of a current transformer is termed the "burden" to distinguish it from the
primary load.

The burden in a CT metering circuit is the largely resistive impedance presented to its secondary
winding. Typical burden ratings for IEC CTs are 1.5 VA, 3 VA, 5 VA, 10 VA, 15 VA, 20 VA,
30 VA, 45 VA and 60 VA. ANSI/IEEE burden ratings are B-0.1, B-0.2, B-0.5, B-1.0, B-2.0 and
B-4.0. This means a CT with a burden rating of B-0.2 can tolerate an impedance of up to 0.2 Ω
on the secondary circuit before its accuracy falls outside of its specification. These specification
diagrams show accuracy parallelograms on a grid incorporating magnitude and phase angle error
scales at the CT's rated burden. Items that contribute to the burden of a current measurement
circuit are switch-blocks, meters and intermediate conductors. The most common cause of excess
burden impedance is the conductor between the meter and the CT. When substation meters are
located far from the meter cabinets, the excessive length of cable creates a large resistance. This
problem can be reduced by using thicker cables and CTs with lower secondary currents (1A),
both of which will produce less voltage drop between the CT and its metering devices.
Knee-point core-saturation voltage[edit]

The knee-point voltage of a current transformer is the magnitude of the secondary voltage above
which the output current ceases to linearly follow the input current within declared accuracy. In
testing, if a voltage is applied across the secondary terminals the magnetizing current will
increase in proportion to the applied voltage, until the knee point is reached. The knee point is
defined as the voltage at which a 10% increase in applied voltage increases the magnetizing
current by 50%. For voltages greater than the knee point, the magnetizing current increases
considerably even for small increments in voltage across the secondary terminals. The knee-
point voltage is less applicable for metering current transformers as their accuracy is generally
much higher, but constrained within a very small range of the current transformer rating,
typically 1.2 to 1.5 times rated current. However, the concept of knee point voltage is very
pertinent to protection current transformers, since they are necessarily exposed to fault currents
of 20 to 30 times rated current.[1]

Phase shift[edit]

Ideally, the primary and secondary currents of a current transformer should be in phase. In
practice, this is impossible, but, at normal power frequencies, phase shifts of a few tenths of a
degree are achievable, while simpler CTs may have phase shifts up to six degrees.[2] For current
measurement, phase shift is immaterial as ammeters only display the magnitude of the current.
However, in wattmeters, energy meters, and power factor meters, phase shift produces errors.
For power and energy measurement, the errors are considered to be negligible at unity power
factor but become more significant as the power factor approaches zero. At zero power factor,
any indicated power is entirely due to the current transformer's phase error.[2] The introduction of
electronic power and energy meters has allowed current phase error to be calibrated out.[3]