Energy Terms
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AGS: Alternative Gas Supplier – An approved, Non-utility supplier of natural gas.
ARES: Alternative Retail Electric Supplier – An approved, Non-utility supplier of electricity.
Ampere: Amp – Unit of measurement for electric current.
Baseload: Minimum amount of power needed to meet demand.
Broker: Sells energy to residential and commercial customers and are usually affiliated with ARES and AGS companies.
BTU: British Thermal Unit – Standard measurement of the heat of a fuel source.
Capacity: Maximum amount of power that a system can create or transfer at a specific time.
Capacity Charge: Additional charge on a monthly bill to cover the difference between peak and normal energy usage.
Circuit: Conductor system for electrical current.
Contract Price: Quarterly, monthly, or yearly terms of an agreed upon price between seller and buyer.
CUB: Citizens Utility Board
Day-Ahead Market: Energy market for one day ahead of the present.
Day-Ahead Schedule: 24-hour advanced scheduling of your energy needs.
Delivery: The physical delivery of electricity of energy to your home or business.
Demand: The rate of electricity delivery (measured in Kilowatts or megawatts) over a specified period of time.
Direct Access: Retail customer’s ability to purchase energy at wholesale without using a utility company.
Distribution: The transport of energy to final destination.
Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC): Federal commission responsible for deregulation of energy utilities.
Firm Gas: Agreed upon amount of natural gas that must be delivered and accepted.
Firm Power: Guaranteed, pre-determined amount of energy available during a specific timeframe.
Fixed Rate: A price that is locked for the term of and agreement.
Forced Outage: Unexpected power loss due to a result of generation or transmission failure.
Future Market: Buying and selling of the future production of commodities to defend against price increases.
Generation: Production of energy.
Generator: Energy producer.
Gigawatt: The equivalent of 1000 megawatts.
Hedging Contracts: The locking in of current energy rates or slightly higher ones over the term of a contract to protect against price increases that may result from market volatility.
ICAP: Installed Capacity – Energy generation capacity of a system.
Independent Power Producers: Energy production companies that are not public utilities.
Index Rate: A rate that changes with the current market.
Kilowatt (kW): Electrical measurement commonly used to identify the electrical consumption of a device.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh): Common measurement of usage of 1000 watts of power over an hour period.
Market Based Pricing: Agreed upon prices between a buyer and seller that reflects current market conditions and the energy spot market.
Market Clearing Price: the highest price that can be expected if all supply is sold and all demands are met.
Maximum Demand: Highest average power value taken from averaged, successive time periods.
Megawatt (MW: A measurement equal to one million watts.
Megawatt-hour (MWh): Measurement of power usage reserved for large commercial customers.
Non-Firm Power: Purchase of energy available that is not required by the customers who arranged its production.
Off-Peak Gas: Natural gas that is obtained when demand is not at its greatest.
Open Access: Utilities with transmission lines that are open for the receipt of energy from other suppliers.
Outage: Service interruption in which power is prevented from being delivered.
Peak Demand: Maximum power amount that is required to provide service to all customers on a particular system.
Peak Capacity: Power generation capacity for peak supply needs.
Power Exchange: Market in which energy producers buy and sell energy.
Reliability: The dependability of a energy producer to meet supply needs with high quality transmission services.
Renewable Resources: Energy produced that is restored by natural processes. Example: Wind or Solar.
Reserve Margin: Energy made available beyond normal peak demand amounts.
Retail Wheeling: Consumer ability to obtain or a suppliers ability to transmit energy over another utilities lines.
Scheduled Outage: A scheduled interruption of energy production and delivery that is often associated with maintenance.
Spinning Reserve: 2-hour operational back-up energy that is available in ten minutes.
Spot Purchases: Quick and fair power transactions between energy producers and consumers for power requirements over short periods in the near future.
Therm: Natural Gas is usually measured by volume in the United States and is stated in cubic feet. A cubic foot of gas is the amount of gas needed to fill a volume of one cubic foot under set conditions of pressure and temperature.
Transmission: Energy delivery across a grids or power lines.