A method to facilitate improving electrostatic precipitator performance is provided. The method includes providing an electrostatic precipitator including an inlet, a collector chamber and an outlet, where the collector chamber includes a plurality of discharge electrodes and a plurality of collector electrodes. The method also includes defining a respective discharge electrode V-I performance for each of the plurality of discharge electrodes, identifying a particle removal characteristic for each respective discharge electrode based on the respective discharge electrode V-I performance for each of the plurality of discharge electrodes and positioning each of the plurality of discharge electrodes in the electrostatic precipitator according to the particle removal characteristic for each respective discharge electrode.