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Glossary of Utility Industry Terms
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Best Available Control Technology (BACT): For any specific source, the currently available technology producing the greatest reduction of air pollutant emissions, taking into account energy, environmental, economic, and other costs. The most stringent technology available for controlling emissions; major sources are required to use BACT, unless it can be demonstrated that it is not feasible for energy, environmental, or economic reasons.
Best Management Practice (BMP): Methods that have been determined to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing pollution from non-point sources.
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Capacity: The maximum amount of power, normally expressed in megawatts, that a given system can carry or produce at a particular moment.
Coincidental Peak Demand: The maximum demand that occurs during a specified time interval. Tri-State Coincident Peak Demand is the highest Tri-State system demand during a half-hour period occurring in a particular month.
Cost of Service: The cost of providing electric service to a group or class of customers. The underlying rationale is that the utility costs (either historical or forecasted) should be the basis of the rates charged by a utility.
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Demand: That portion of electrical service based on the largest/maximum electric load consumed for a period of time. Tri-State uses a 30-minute interval to calculate the member’s maximum demand.
Demand Rates: Any charge for electric service that is based upon the maximum demand (expressed in kilowatts) during a given period of time called a billing demand interval. Tri-State’s 2010 Class A demand rate is calculated by dividing the demand-related revenue requirement by the forecast of aggregate member demand during the Tri-State peak period.
Demand-Side Management (DSM): Utility activities designed to encourage consumers to modify patterns of electricity usage, including the timing and level of electricity demand. It refers to energy and load-shape modifying activities that are undertaken in response to utility-administered programs. It does not refer to energy and load-shaped changes arising from the normal operation of the marketplace or from government-mandated energy-efficiency standards.
Distributed Generation (DG): A generator located close to the particular load that it is intended to serve. In general, distributed generation is electric power generation within distribution networks or on the customer side of the network.
DOE: U.S. Department of Energy.
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Energy Information Administration (EIA): An agency of the federal government which, among other things, is the chief federal statistical service for energy information.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): A federal agency charged with protecting the environment.
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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the price, terms and conditions of power sold in interstate commerce and regulates the price, terms and conditions of all transmission services. FERC is the federal counterpart to state utility regulatory commissions.
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Green Power: (see Renewable Resources)
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Heat Pump: An electric device with both heating and cooling capabilities. It extracts heat from one medium at a lower (the heat source) temperature and transfers it to another at a higher temperature (the heat sink), thereby cooling the first and warming the second. Also known as geothermal heat pump systems.
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Incentive Rate: A discount offered to encourage consumption or appliance usage during a desired time interval.
Independent Power Producer (IPP): A non-utility power generating entity, defined by the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act A private entity that operates a generation facility and sells power to electric utilities for resale to retail customers.
Independent System Operator (ISO): A neutral operator responsible for maintaining instantaneous balance of the grid system. The ISO performs its function by controlling the dispatch of flexible plants to ensure that loads match resources available to the system.
Integrated Resource Planning: A public planning process and framework within which the costs and benefits of both demand- and supply-side resources are evaluated to develop the least-total-cost mix of utility resource options. In many states, IRP includes a means for considering environmental damages caused by electricity supply/transmission and identifying cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy alternatives. IRP has become a formal process prescribed by law in some states and under some provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1992.
Interruptible Load/Demand: Demand that can be interrupted by direct action of the supplying system’s system operator in accordance with contractual provisions at times of seasonal peak load.
Interstate Commerce Clause: A clause of the U.S. Constitution which reserves to the federal government the right to regulate the conduct of business across state lines. Under this clause, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states may not inequitably restrict the disposal of out-of-state wastes in their jurisdictions.
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Load Factor: Load factor is a measure of the variability of the load over a period of time, usually a day, a week, a month, or a year. Generally, it is the ratio of average demand, in kilowatts, over a stated period of time to the maximum demand in kilowatts occurring in that same time period. A load factor of 1.0 corresponds to a load that is "on" 100% of the time.
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National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) – Standards established by EPA that apply for outdoor air throughout the country.
National Energy Policy Act of 1992: A law aimed at increasing efficiency in the electric utility industry by enhancing competition in generation. It requires the opening of electric transmission access by giving the FERC authority to order utilities to provide transmission to other utilities, federal power marketing agencies or power marketers for wholesale transactions.
North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC): As a reaction to the 1967 New York City black out, the electric utility industry formed a council in 1968 to promote the reliability and adequacy of bulk power supply in the electric utility systems of North America.
NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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OASIS – Open access same-time information system.
Off Peak: Period of relatively low system demand. These periods often occur in daily, weekly, and seasonal patterns; and differ for each individual electric utility.
On Peak: Periods of relatively high system demand. These periods often occur in daily, weekly, and seasonal patterns; and differ for each individual electric utility. Tri-State’s Summer Peak Period is defined as 7:00 am through 10:00 pm daily during the months of April through September. Tri-State’s Winter Peak Period is defined as 5:30 am through 12:00 pm daily and 4:30 pm through 10:30 pm daily during the months of October through March.
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Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) -- PCBs are mixtures of synthetic organic chemicals with the same basic chemical structure and similar physical properties ranging from oily liquids to waxy solids. Due to their non-flammability, chemical stability, high boiling point and electrical insulating properties, PCBs were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications including electrical, heat transfer, and hydraulic equipment. Concern over the toxicity and persistence in the environment of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) led Congress in 1976 to enact §6(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that included among other things, prohibitions on the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of PCBs.
Postage Stamp Rate – A rate for electric transmission that does not vary according to distance from the source of the power supply.
Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) – Congress established five federal power marketing administrations (PMAs) to sell hydroelectric power generated by dams and power plants. These PMAs and their headquarters are:
· Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) - Portland, Oregon
· Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) - Golden, Colorado
· Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) - Tulsa, Oklahoma
· Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA) - Elberton, Georgia
· Alaska Power Administration (APA) - Juneau, Alaska
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Qualifying Facility (QF) – A designation created by the PURPA, for non-utility power producers that meet certain operating, efficiency and fuel use standards set by the FERC. To become a QF under PURPA, the facility must produce electric energy and "another form of useful thermal energy through the sequential use of energy" and meet certain ownership, operating and efficiency criteria established by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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Rate Structure: A broad, general term referring to all rates, underlying costs and cost allocation methods. More specifically, the rate structure is the design and organization of billing charges for a group of customers.
Real-Time Pricing (RTP): A service option that is offered by some utilities that bases energy charges on hourly market prices. There are 8,760 different energy pricing points in any given year.
Regional Transmission Organization (RTOs): A proposal advanced by the FERC to establish regional transmission groups to expedite the coordination of wholesale wheeling.
Renewable Portfolio Standard: A law or regulation that requires electric utilities to supply a specified minimum amount of customer load with electricity from eligible renewable energy sources. Tri-State members are subject to renewable portfolio standards in Colorado and New Mexico.
Renewable Resources: Renewable energy resources are naturally replenishable, but flow-limited. They are virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time.
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Standard Market Design (SMD): FERC proposal to implement the same set of rules for all users of the transmission grid. Under the proposal, the grid would be administered by an independent entity. The SMD proposal includes market rules that protect against market manipulation; customer protection through market power mitigation measures and oversight; and clear transmission pricing and planning policies for grid expansion.
State Implementation Plans (SIP): EPA approved state plans for the establishment, regulation, and enforcement of air pollution standards.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA): A system of remote control and telemetry used to monitor and control the transmission.
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Time-of-Use Rates: Prices for electricity that vary depending upon what time of day or night a customer uses it. Time-of-use rates are designed to reflect the different costs an electric utility incurs in providing electricity during peak periods when electricity demand is high and off-peak periods when electricity demand is low.
Total Transmission Capacity (TTC): The maximum continuos rating of a transmission line. The rating may be limited by thermal considerations, capacity of associated equipment, voltage regulation, system stability or other factors.
Transmitting Utility (Transco): This is a regulated entity which owns (and may construct and maintain) wires used to transmit wholesale power.
Transmission Access Charge (TAC): Under FERC’s proposed Standard Market Design, transmission owners will recover embedded costs through an access charge assessed mainly to load-serving entities, based on their respective shares of the system’s peak load.
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WAPA – Western Area Power Administration. A power marketing and electrical transmission agency of the United States government with its headquarters in Golden, Colorado.
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