Electric and Gas
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Last Revised: 11/21/05
Acronym
AET
Definition/Description
Annual Electric True-up – a late
in the year regulatory process
where PG&E will true-up the
balances in many different
balancing accounts
Advanced Metering
Infrastructure – PG&E’s system
for reading electric and gas
meters daily or more often, and
electronically communicating
reads automatically to the utility.
Abnormal Peak Day -- an
extremely cold day with about 1
in 90 year probability, used for
planning core gas reliability (or
Alternative Proposed Decision
at the CPUC)
Balanced Payment Plan:
System of establishing (and
regularly adjusting) a “levelized”
monthly payment amount for
residential and some
commercial customers
Account established to track the
costs and revenues associated
with a specific category
Biennial Cost Allocation
Proceeding – the proceeding in
which PG&E’s gas distribution
costs (generally approved in a
GRC) are allocated among
customers.
British Thermal Unit (100,000
BTUs equals one therm)
California Alternate Rates for
Energy – bill discounts for
qualified low-income customers
100 cubic feet of natural gas,
approximately equal to one
therm.
California Energy Commission.
Funding for the CEC derived
AMI
APD
BPP
Balancing Account
BCAP
BTU
CARE
Ccf
CEC
1
Electric and Gas
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Acronym
Definition/Description
through and billed as the Energy
Commission Tax (ECT)
Cogeneration Gas Allowance
(the volume of gas allowed for
cogeneration per kilowatt-hour
of net electricity generation)
Cost of Capital
CGA
COC
CPP
CPUC
Critical Peak Pricing
California Public Utilities
Commission
Competition Transition Charge
(also known as Ongoing CTC).
The cost of over-market
purchased power agreements
signed prior to 12/20/95 and a
portion of electric industry
restructuring implementation
costs
CTC
Direct Access – can refer to
both gas and electric commodity
procurement directly by a
customer, through an ESP
Direct Access Cost
Responsibility Surcharge.
Generation or generationrelated costs the CPUC has
determined (most) DA
customers remain responsible
for even though they procure
their generation (commodity)
from a third party
DA
DACRS
Dth
DWR
Decatherm (10 therms)
California Department of Water
Resources
Energy Cost Recovery Amount.
Revenues that pay the principal,
interest and other costs of the
Energy Recovery Bonds
(ERBs). The ERBs refinanced
the previous “Regulatory Asset”
Energy Service Provider – third
ECRA
ESP
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Electric and Gas
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Acronym
Definition/Description
party energy supplier for DA
customers – gas or electric
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
Franchise Fee Surcharge:
surcharge that PG&E is required
to collect from electric DA
customers to recover franchise
fees that would otherwise be
lost to cities and counties from
PG&E’s reduction in revenues
resulting from direct access.
The gas equivalent is G-SUR
Generation-related costs of the
electric commodity incurred by
PG&E or DWR
General Rate Case: major
regulatory proceeding for
California utilities occurring
every three years. In Phase 1,
the CPUC examines in depth
the utility’s costs and operations
as part of an overall process to
establish the Company’s total
revenue requirement to be
collected in rates. Phase 2
determines the allocation of
costs among customer groups
as well as various rate design
matters
FERC
FFS
Gen
GRC
kW
kilowatt; measure of electrical
power (billed as “demand”)
kilowatt-hour; measure of
electrical energy (billed as
“usage”)
Percentage expression of actual
use divided by maximum
potential use over time for a
facility or piece of equipment
kWh
Load factor
Mcf
1,000 cubic feet– for natural
gas, very roughly, one
decatherm.
1,000 decatherms (10,000
MDth
3
Electric and Gas
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Acronym
Definition/Description
therms)
1,000,000 cubic feet
1,000,000 BTUs – 1 Dth
Nuclear Decommissioning: rates
required to fund site restoration
when PG&E’s nuclear plants
(Diablo Canyon and Humboldt
Bay) are removed from service
The components of rates or
customer bills unrelated to
producing, and buying power or
acting as DWR’s agent
Order Instituting Rulemaking –
CPUC proceeding which usually
results in changes in CPUC
policy
Purchased Gas Account (gas
commodity balancing account)
MMcf
Mmbtu
ND
Non-Gen
OIR
PGA
Power Purchase Agreements –
wholesale energy purchasing
agreements
Public Purpose Programs: rates
which fund state-mandated
assistance programs for low
income customers and for
PG&E’s energy efficiency
programs. For gas, now
separately stated as Public
Purpose Program Surcharge.
PPA
PPP
QF
Qualifying Facility: A power
producer or cogenerator that
meets certain guidelines and
thereby qualifies to supply
generation capacity and energy
to electric utilities, which must
purchase this power at prices
approved by regulators
Research Development and
Demonstration – process of
bringing new and emerging
technology to the point of
application
Rate Reduction Bond:
RD&D
RRB
4
Electric and Gas
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Acronym
Definition/Description
Bonds issued in 1997 to
refinance a portion of residential
CTCs equal to the forecasted
10% rate reduction
Rate Reduction Bond
Memorandum Account:
a memorandum account which
keeps track of certain benefits
associated with the RRBs which
will ultimately go to reduce
residential/small commercial
rates
RRBMA
RRQ
Revenue requirement: The
amount of money a utility must
collect from customers to pay
operating and capital expenses,
including a return on investment
SCE
Southern California Edison
Company
Holding company that owns
SoCal Gas and SDG&E
Southern California Gas
Company
San Diego Gas and Electric
Company
Therm: The metered unit of
natural gas energy. 1Th equals
100,000 BTUs
Time-of-use: usually a rate
schedule with prices which vary
by time of day to correspond to
utility costs to procure/produce
power
Transition Revenue Account
Trust Transfer Amount (Fixed
Transition Asset): charge
assessed residential and small
commercial customers to repay
the RRBs
Utility-retained generation –
costs associated with PG&E’s
remaining power plants
Sempra
SoCal Gas
SDG&E
Th
TOU
TRA
TTA or (FTA)
URG
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