Glossary

The use of Web-based technology to improve performance, create value and strengthen relationships with customers, suppliers, business partners, shareholders and employees.

The marketing, selling and buying of products and services on the Internet.

A measure of financial performance. EBIT consists of a company's revenues minus its cost of doing business. It is a measure of a company's operating profit before interest on debt and income taxes on earnings are deducted.

The principal benchmark financial analysts use to judge a company's performance. EPS is calculated by dividing a company's net income by the average number of shares of common stock outstanding.

The process of determining the desired generation level for each of the generating units in a system in order to meet customer demand at the lowest possible production cost given the operational constraints on the system.

A term that refers to the optimal production and consumption of goods and services. This generally occurs when prices of products and services reflect their marginal costs.

Economies of scale exist where the industry exhibits decreasing average long run costs with size.

Energy sold on a non-firm basis and subject to recall at the discretion of the selling party.

Edison Electric Institute is a national trade organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its members provide over 78% of the nation's electricity and serve over 75% of the electric customers in the country.

Relating to heat, a percentage indicating the available Btu input that is converted to useful purposes. It is applied, generally, to combustion equipment. E=Btu output/ Btu input

Energy Information Administration. An agency of the Federal government which, among other things, is the chief federal statistical service for energy information.

The degree to which consumer demand for a product responds to changes in price, availability or other factors.

Available heat in electricity; one kilowatt hour equals 3,412.97 Btu.

A facility containing prime movers, electric generators, and auxiliary equipment for converting mechanical, chemical, and/or fission energy into electric energy. Also known as Electric Generation Plant and Electric Power Plant.

A statement of the electric rate and the terms and conditions governing its application, including attendant contract terms and conditions that have been accepted by a regulatory body with appropriate oversight authority.

The electric power needed to provide service to customers in the event of generation or transmission system outages, adverse streamflows, delays in the completion of new resources or other factors which may restrict generating capability or increase loads. Reserves normally are provided from additional resources acquired for that purpose, or from contractual rights to interrupt, curtail or otherwise withdraw portions of the electric power supplied to customers.

The generation, transmission, distribution, and other facilities operated as an electric utility or a portion thereof.

Amount of electricity lost in system. Losses consist of transmission, transformation, and distribution losses between supply sources and delivery points. Loss of electric energy is primarily a result of heating in transmission and distribution elements.

A corporation, person, agency, authority, or other legal entity or instrumentality that owns and/or operates facilities within the United States, its territories, or Puerto Rico for the generation, transmission, distribution, or sale of electric energy primarily for use by the public and files forms listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 18, Part 141. Facilities that qualify as cogenerators or small power producers under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) are not considered electric utilities.

Invisible force fields that surround the movement of electricity.

Generic name for the system of electronic posting of pipeline and electric transmission information as mandated by the FERC.

Measurement of gas flow using electronic equipment that typically records data continuously and may transmit that data to a central operations location.

A device which extracts particles from combustion gases prior to release from a power plant's stack.

Any electric device which has terminals that can be connected to other electric devices (typical limited to a generator, transformer, circuit, circuit breaker, or bus section).

The historical cost of all facilities in the electric or gas supply system.

Electricity purchased by a member system when an event on that system results in insufficient operating capability to cover its own short term demand requirements.

The rating, as defined by the facility owner, that specifies the level of electrical loading (generally expressed in megawatts or other appropriate units) that a facility can support or withstand for short periods of time.

Rate of load change a generating unit is capable of achieving under emergency.

The operating voltage range on the interconnected systems, above or below nominal voltage and expressed in kilovolts at the transmission or distribution level and volts at the utilization level, that is acceptable for the time sufficient for system adjustments to be made following a facility outage or system disturbance. (See Voltage Chart.)

An agreement that provides the general terms and conditions for the purchase, sale, or exchange of electricity but does not list specific contract details or obligate either party to perform.

One who actually consumes energy, as opposed to one who sells or re-sells it.

The capability of doing work (potential energy) or the conversion of this capability to motion (kinetic energy). Energy has several forms, some of which are easily convertible and can be changed to another form useful for work. Most of the world's convertible energy comes from fossil fuels that are burned to produce heat which is then used as a transfer medium to mechanical or other means in order to accomplish tasks.

That portion of the charge for electric service based upon the electric energy (kWh) consumed or billed. The commodity charge.

Energy generated by one electric utility system and delivered to another system through one or more transmission lines.

The changes in aggregate electricity use (measured in mWh) for customers that participate in a utility DSM program. Energy Effects should represent changes at the consumer meter (i.e. exclude transmission and distribution effects) and reflect only activities that are undertaken specifically in response to utility-administered programs.

Using less energy/electricity to perform the same function. Programs designed to use electricity more efficiently - doing the same with less. "Energy conservation" is a term, which has also been used but it has the connotation of doing without in order to save energy rather than using less energy to do the same thing and so is not used as much today. Many people use these terms interchangeably.

An energy emergency exists when a system or pool does not have an adequate fuel supply (including water for hydroelectric units) to provide its customers' expected energy requirements over a given period.

Corrects hourly imbalances between transmission customer's energy scheduled and actually received.

An energy merchant buys and sells energy as a commodity. A merchant plant is one that is built with the aim of marketing and selling its output on the open market. This differs from building a plant to meet customer needs and the obligation to serve that a regulated utility has.

The Energy Policy Act of 1992.

Energy generated by one electric utility system and received by another system through one or more transmission lines.

Raw materials that are converted to electricity through chemical, mechanical, or other means. Energy sources include coal, petroleum and petroleum products, gas, water, uranium, wind, sunlight, geothermal, and other sources.

The energy value chain links the sources, production, forms, marketing and delivery of energy. Value can be added by analyzing the energy value chain, learning where competitive advantage can be exploited within a firm's value chain and through interrelationships among the value chains that serve different segments, industries or geographic areas.

The introduction of an artificial drive and displacement mechanism, usually steam, into a reservoir to produce oil unrecoverable by primary and secondary recovery methods.

Increasing the heat content of natural gas by mixing it with a gas of higher Btu content (often propane).

A collection of software programs that tie together an enterprise's various functions, such as human resources, finance, marketing and sales. The software also enables an analysis of the data to plan production, forecast sales and analyze quality.

A working interest owner's share of production from a well. This amount may not be equal to actual sales due to contractual or market conditions.

The Environmental Protection Agency. A federal agency charged with protecting the environment.

The sum of capital from retained earnings and the issuance of stocks.

A clause in a purchase or sale contract that permits adjustment of the contract price under specified conditions.

Efficiency Service Company. A company that offers to reduce a client's electricity consumption with the cost savings being split with the client.

A doctrine developed in anti-trust law which defines certain facilities, found necessary for transporting a product to market, as a potential monopoly and requires such facilities to be made available on a non-discriminatory basis.

A hydrocarbon molecule consisting of two carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms, used as petrochemical feedstock in production of chemicals and plastics, and as a solvent in enhanced oil recovery processes.

A hydrocarbon molecule consisting of two carbon atoms and four hydrogen atoms, used as petrochemical feedstock in production of chemicals and plastics, and as a solvent in enhanced oil recovery processes.

A contract clause that extends the contract beyond the initial term, perhaps on a month-to-month or year-to-year basis, until one of the parties gives a required notice of termination.

Transportation of natural gas by displacement over two pipelines, each of which takes and retains possession of gas contractually allocated to the other.

Natural gas that is received from, or delivered to, another party in exchange for natural gas delivered to, or received from that other party.

A futures contract provision by which the physical product is delivered from one market participant to another, with a simultaneous assumption of equal and opposite futures positions between the two participants.

Online trading community that links buyers and sellers.

A class of generators defined by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 that includes the owners and/or operators of facilities used to generate electricity exclusively for wholesale or that are leased to utilities.

The price at which an option may be exercised. A decrease in the exercise price has the same effect as an increase in the current price of the underlying asset.

The action taken by the owner of a call option if he/she wants to exercise the right to purchase the underlying instrument or to settle in cash, or by the holder of a put option if he/she wants to sell the underlying instrument contract or settle in cash.

A fee that is paid by a customer leaving the utility system intended to compensate the utility in whole or part for the loss of fixed cost -contribution from the exiting customer.

The reduction in volume of wet natural gas due to the removal of natural gas liquids, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, water vapor and other impurities from the natural gas stream. Also called SHRINKAGE.

A network that allows a company to share information with specific businesses and other stakeholders, while excluding others. Extranets, which are more private than external Web sites, transmit information over the Internet and require users to have a password to access data on internal company servers.