The classical method of reactive power measurement based on one pair of Hilbert filters has some shortcomings such as the accuracy considerably dependent on phase-shift error， the ripples of the intermediate signal. An improved method using two pairs of Hilbert filters can solve these problems. By eliminating the linear term of the phase-shift error in the error estimation equation， the improved method decreases the effect of the phase-shift characteristic of the Hilbert filters on the measurement accuracy and can be realized with lower order Hilbert filters. In measurement of the reactive power in the pure sinusoidal circuit or the sinusoidal circuit with a few harmonics， the ripples of the intermediate signal are obviously reduced. The simulation results prove that the improved method has the advantages of the lower order filtering， the less system error and the smaller ripples of intermediate signal than ones of the classical method. The proposed novel method has been applied in a design of a digital energy metering integrated circuit.