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

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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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