Glossary of terms & abbreviations
This is the official list of
terms and abbreviations used in Restructuring Today. It's part of
our commitment to deliver the most concise, easy-to-read news possible.
Not everyone knows them all -- so we put a link to this page at the end of every
issue.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
ABC: Aggregators, brokers and consultants -- a term used in
competitive power and gas markets to identify entities that influence the
markets AGA: American Gas Assn ALJ:
Administrative law judge, a hearing examiner within a regulatory agency, a fact
finder AMI/AMR: Advanced or automated metering
infrastructure, automated or advanced meter reading APPA:
American Public Power Assn API: American Petroleum
Institute ARRA: American Recovery &
Reinvestment Act of 2009, aka the stimulus package ATC:
Available transfer capability AWEA: American Wind Energy
Assn
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B
BCF: Billion cubic
feet
Bioenergy: Bioenergy technologies use renewable biomass resources to produce an array of energy related products such as fuels called biofuels.
Biofuels: Biological mass can be converted into liquid fuels for transportation including ethanol and biodiesel.
Biomass: Various biological materials used to create biofuels.
BPA: Bonneville Power Administration
BPL: Broadband over power lines
BTU: British thermal unit, a measure of energy
used often for natural gas
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C
CCF: Hundred cubic feet, a measure of natural gas usually
used for smaller consumers such as a home (ie. a typical home may use 75 ccf)
CFO: Chief financial officer CFTC: Commodities Futures Trading
Commission CHP: Combined heat & power
generation CIO: Chief information officer
C&I: Commercial and industrial
CO2: Carbon dioxide
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D
DG: Distributed generation
Direct access: The official term in California for the open electricity market structure. We don't know of anywhere else the term is used.
DKT:
Dekatherm = one MMBTU = Roughly one MCF DOE: Department of
Energy DPUC (Connecticut): Dept of Public Utility Control
DR: Demand response, a program or technology that cuts the
demand for power as a form of load management or to offset the need for added
generation DSM: Demand side management, see DR
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E
EBITDA: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
and amortization EEI: Edison Electric Institute EIA: Energy Information Administration
ELCON: Electricity Consumers Resource Council
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency
EPRI: Electric Power Research Institute
EPSA: Electric Power Supply Assn
ERCOT: Electric Reliability Council of Texas. It's an
ISO that's referred to informally as the Texas power market -- although ERCOT
doesn't cover all of Texas.
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F
FERC: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
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G
G&T: Generation and transmission
GAAP: Generally accepted accounting principles GDP: Gross domestic product GHG: Greenhouse gas GAO: Government Accountability Office, a
federal office that studies, forecasts and reports on the results of federal
policies Gigaton: One billion tons; used to measure world
carbon emissions, for example GRI: Gas Research Institute
GW: Gigawatt GWh: gigawatt
hour = 1,000 MWh
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H
HB: House bill, used in naming federal and state legislation.
HV: High voltage.
HVDC: High-voltage direct current, a transmission technology that can be used to send power long distances with relatively small line loss. HVAC:
Heating/ventilating and air conditioning
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I
ICAP: Installed capacity INGAA:
Interstate Natural Gas Assn of America IOU: Investor owned
utility IPP: Independent power producer
ISO: Independent system operator
J
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K
KV: Kilovolt KWh: kilowatt hour
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L
LADWP: Los Angeles Department of Water & Power
LDC: Local gas distributing company LMP: Locational marginal pricing
LNG: Liquified natural gas
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M
MAPP: Mid-Continent Area Power Pool
MCF: Thousand cubic feet MMBTU:
Million BTU (generally equal to MCF) MW: Megawatt = 1
million watts, enough power to supply 330 homes for one hour on a hot summer's
afternoon MWh: Megawatt hour
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N
NAESB: North American Energy Standards Board (replaced GISB)
NARUC: National Assn of Regulatory Utility Commissioners,
the association of state utility regulators NAESB: North
American Energy Standards Board
NEM: National Energy Marketers Assn
NEMA: See NEM NERC: North American
Electricity Reliability Corporation NIMBY: Not in my back yard, a sentiment held by
some in the general public, for example, and faced by those charged with siting
infrastructure such as transmission power lines. Also referred to as NIMBYism.
NOPR: See NPRM NOx:
Oxides of nitrogen, an air pollutant NPCC: Northeast Power
Coordinating Council NPRM: Notice of
proposed rulemaking NRC: Nuclear Regulatory
Commission NRECA: National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn
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O
OASIS: Open access same time information system
OFGEM: The UK's Office of the Gas & Electricity markets
OMB: Office of Management & Budget (White House)
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P
Peaker: A power generator meant to be turned on only when
demand hits a peak threshhold PJM: The Pennsylvania-New
Jersey-Maryland regional transmission organization (RTO) and reliability region
(www.pjm.com) POLR:
Provider of last resort PPM/PPB: parts per million/billion
PSC: Public service commission PUC:
Public utilities commission PUHCA: Public Utilities Holding
Company Act PURPA: Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act of 1978
PV: Photovoltaic, a type of solar power
generation system that uses solar cells to turn sunlight into electricity
PX: Power Exchange (California trading center)
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Q
Q1, Q2, Q3 & Q4: First, second, third and fourth
quarters in a firm's financial year.
QF: qualifying facility under PURPA
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R
RFP: Request for proposals
RGGI: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
(pronounced "reggie"), the first US organization to hold an auction for GHG
emissions allowances and covering Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island and Vermont (in the first auction) along with Delaware, New
Hampshire, New Jersey and New York.
RPM: The Reliability Pricing Model is PJM's capacity-market model. Implemented in 2007, the RPM, based on making capacity commitments three years ahead, is designed to create long-term price signals to attract needed investments in reliability in the PJM region," explained PJM's website.
RTO: Regional
transmission organization
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S
SB: Senate bill, used in naming federal and state
legislation SEC: Securities & Exchange Commission
SERC: Southeastern Electric Reliability Council
Smart grid: General term referring to utility distribution
systems enabled with two-way communications and remote controls that allow for
automation of the system, enhanced monitoring and advanced metering. The term
describes both the technology used to create such networks and utility networks
themselves once the technology has been deployed. Related applications include
programmable demand response systems, utility security and surveillance, outage
detection and location, utility field communications, remote connect and
disconnect and many more for utilities, end users and municipal authorities, for
example. Shoulder season: Time between the peak season and
the off season in any industry, also called "shoulder period"
SMD: Standard market design -- FERC's wise but toppled plan
to open wholesale markets to competition SMA: Standard
market assessment SO2: Sulphur dioxide, an
air pollutant SOS: Standard offer service Spark spread: The difference between
the fuel costs to generate electricity and the price at which electricity is
sold SPP: Southwest Power Pool, an RTO that manages the
electric grid for all or part of seven states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. SPP has members in the above
states and Mississippi.
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T
TCF: Trillion cubic feet
Therm: Tenth of an MMBTU. T&D: Transmission and distribution.
TOU: Time-of-use, referring to retail power prices that change according to a pre-arranged mechanism that generally reflects the cost of generating and delivering electricity. TOU rates would tend to be higher at peak demand times and lower at low demand times. The idea is to send price signals to consumers so that they will either adjust their use of power according to those signals, or if they choose not to, they will be charged a price that reflects better the true costs of providing the power they use.
TDU: Transmission and distribution utility. TURN: The Utility Reform Network, California ratepayer.
group TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority. TWH: Terawatthour, one trillion watthours.
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U
USDA: US Department of Agriculture UTC:
United Telecom Council
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V
VP: Vice president
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W
WECC: Western Electricity Coordinating Council, the new name
for WSCC (Western Systems Coordinating Council), the NERC affiliate
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X
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Y
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Z
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