With the development of the power industry restructuring

some new problems related to reactive power have emerged. For example

the traditional method for reactive power procurement and dispatching are no longer workable in the competitive electricity market environment. Given this background

much effort has been made in addressing many reactive power related issues in the electricity market environment in recent years

and a brief but yet systematic survey is made in this paper. The following topics are covered: definitions

cost analysis

valuation

spot pricing

procurement as well as cost allocation of reactive power services. Besides

a brief introduction is made to the reactive power procurement methods in several practically operating electricity markets around the globe. In addition to the survey

some comments are also made.