The goal of this paper is to present a characterization of harmonic distortion, voltage fluctuations and power consumption in electric arc furnaces EAF based on measurements carried out in several steel mills. This characterization was used in order to get a model which was implemented in a software tool named PSS™SINCAL. The simulation results showed that the model represents in a good way the real performance of this kind of loads, in that way it is possible to propose optimal solutions in order to reduce harmonic distortion in compliance with recommendations IEEE-519, EN 50160 and Colombian regulation.