The disclosed electrosurgical systems and methods accurately determine the power actually applied to a load by using equalizers to calibrate the power measurements. The electrosurgical systems include an electrosurgical generator and an electrosurgical instrument coupled to the electrosurgical generator through an electrosurgical cable. The electrosurgical generator includes an electrical energy source, voltage and current detectors, equalizers that estimate the voltage and current applied to a load, and a power calculation unit that calculates estimated power based upon the estimated voltage and current. The methods of calibrating an electrosurgical generator involve applying a resistive element across output terminals of the electrosurgical generator, applying a test signal to the resistive element, measuring the magnitude and phase angle of voltage and current components of the test signal within the electrosurgical generator, estimating the magnitude and phase angle of the voltage and current at the resistive element using equalizers, and determining gain correction factors and minimum phase angles for the equalizers.
