1414 Key Highway
Suite L
Baltimore, MD 21230
(443) 524-2880 office
(443) 524-2887 fax
www.sriverconsulting.com web
Energy Market Acronyms and Terms with Definitions
Automated meter read meter – used for large commercial
natural gas accounts to measure daily and inter-day usage
The amount that natural gas suppliers charge for interstate
Basis
pipeline costs (transportation) and supplier margin
An electric purchase structure whereby a buyer/user purchases
electricity at hourly rates and purchases wholesale fixed rate
Block Index
block purchases to stabilize portions of the electric price
Amount of power purchased in MWs for a defined time of the
day (on peak, off peak or RTC) and term length (1 month,
summer period, 1 year, 2 year etc.) at a fixed rate per MW.
Block
Block purchase of $60 MW for 1 MW RTC for 1 year is 1,000
Purchase
kilowatts purchased at $.06 kwh for each hour for one year.
Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Consortium – A
buying consortium consisting of Central Maryland County
Governments, Schools Systems, Towns and Community
BRCPC
Colleges
Party that sells or arranges the sale of energy commodity and is
Broker
directly by compensated by an energy supplier
Capacity
Amount of electric generation available
Default Rate
See utility default rate
Local utility charges for delivering electricity or natural gas bill
Distribution
through the local distribution system – represents a portion of
Cost
the total electric and/or gas bill.
DOE
Department of Energy
Deka therm
Quantity of natural gas = 10 therms, unit quantity priced on
(dth)
NYMEX, NYMEX trades in 10,000 dth quantities
Electric
Amount of electricity that flows to a customer meter at a point in
Demand
time. Measured in Kilowatts (kw)
ERCOT
RTO that manages power grid in Texas
ESCO
Energy Service Company
Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium – Buying
consortium consisting of Eastern Shore of Maryland School
ESMEC
Systems, County Governments and Colleges
Forward
Prices of energy today for delivery in the future – Prices
Market
available on futures exchanges such as NYMEX
Fuel Oil
Diesel fuel (undyed) used for heating.
Full
Contract structure whereby supplier provides all usage
Requirements requirements for a specific term at a fixed price
AMR Meter
1414 Key Highway
Suite L
Baltimore, MD 21230
(443) 524-2880 office
(443) 524-2887 fax
www.sriverconsulting.com web
Independent
Consultant
Interval Meter
Kilowatt (kw)
Kilowatt Hour
(kwh)
LMP
Low Sulphur
Diesel
LSE
LSP
MEA
Mega Watts
(MW)
Energy consultant who is objective and is compensated directly
and solely by the end user and not the supplier
Meter used to measure electric flow every 15 minutes. Usually
required for large commercial electric accounts and for all
standalone accounts for demand response and hourly priced
contracts.
One thousand watts – metric for measuring the electricity flow to
a customer meter
The amount of kilowatts used in one hour. If a customer uses
100 kw an hour for two hours the total kilowatt hours for the two
hour period would be 200 kwh.
Locational Marginal Price – PJM hourly energy price for a
specific delivery zone within PJM
Fuel grade typically used for heating and over the road vehicles
Load Serving Entity – entity qualified by PJM to provide electric
supply to the PJM system
Licensed Service Provider – Energy service provider licensed
within a state/region who provides access to wholesale energy
markets and billing services for end users/buyers
Maryland Energy Administration
Equal to 1000 kw – Quantity used to trade in wholesale markets
National Energy Regulatory Commission – Overseas the RTO’s
NERC
around the country
Organization that manages the power grid in New York City and
NYISO
State
New York Mercantile Exchange – an organization that provides
markets and market clearing house for trading futures such as
NYMEX
electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and other commodities
Organization that manages the power grid in the mid-atlantic
PJM
region. Covers from Virginia to New Jersey to Illinois
Peak Load Contribution – similar to demand, a measure of an
electric account’s demand relative to the entire RTO demand
during RTO peak load periods. An account’s PLC in PJM is
determined by its demand during the 5 highest peak hours of
PLC
the PJM system (each hour occurring on a different day)
PLC Predictor Service Provided by SRC to predict peak load hours within PJM
Provider of Last Resort – Electric supply rate charged by local
electric utility for end users who do not contract with a supplier,
PoLR
used interchangeably with SOS and default rate
Portfolio
Electric procurement and risk management program developed
Block/Index
by South River Consulting for aggregations/buying consortiums
1414 Key Highway
Suite L
Baltimore, MD 21230
(443) 524-2880 office
(443) 524-2887 fax
www.sriverconsulting.com web
PSC
RTC
RTO
SOS
SRC
Supplier
Supplier
Margin
Supply Cost
Trans Cap
UBI
UCAP
Utility Default
Rate
Utility
Interface
such as governments, schools, hospitals etc.
Public Service Commission
Round the Clock – term used to describe 24 hours in a day time
period that block purchases are made
Regional Transmission Organization – Organization that
manages a regional power grid - PJM, NYISO or ERCOT
Standard Offer Service – see utility default rate
South River Consulting
Licensed energy supplier who provides energy supply in
deregulated markets
Amount of profit suppliers earn after hedge costs on fixed rate
full requirements contracts
Cost of energy commodity delivered to the local utility on a
buyers behalf. For electricity, supply cost includes energy,
UCAP, transmission, congestion, supplier margin and other
related costs. For natural gas, supply cost includes commodity
cost, transportation (interstate pipeline costs) and supplier
margin.
Transmission Capacity - – Amount of transmission capacity (in
KW or MW) that supplier has to purchase as a component of
electric supply sold to end users
Utility Bill Information – a web based utility bill tracking and
management tool offered by SRC
Unforced Capacity Obligation – Amount of generation capacity
(in KW or MW) that supplier has to purchase as a component of
electric supply sold to end users
Energy supply price an end user is charged by the local utility if
they do not contract with a third party supplier. Used
interchangeability with PoLR and SOS
Communications and services between local utility and end
user/buyer and or their energy consultant