Changes in source current, such as a current pulse, can cause large voltage transients. The transient response specifies how long it takes before the transients recover. The following figure shows how the transient behavior is typically specified. The transient response time specifies how quickly the supply can recover to within a certain voltage (ΔV) when a specific change in load (ΔI) occurs. Some power supplies also specify a maximum transient voltage dip under the same load conditions.

There is a trade-off between transient response and the stability of the system under a wide variety of sources connected to the electronic load. To achieve the fastest transient response, an instrument should have a high gain-bandwidth (GBW) product, but the higher GBW is, the more likely it is that the instrument will become unstable with certain sources. Thus, most instruments compromise performance to achieve stability under most conditions. Other instruments allow a degree of customization to enable optimization of performance under different circumstances.