Glossary of electric industry, energy & cooperative terms

C
Capability
The maximum load that a generating unit, generating station, or other electrical apparatus can carry under specified conditions for a given period of time without exceeding approved limits of temperature and stress.

Capacity
The power output rating of a generator or electric system, typically reported in megawatts. Generating capacity denotes the maximum amount of power that can be produced by a given facility. Load capacity or transmission capacity denotes the maximum amount of energy that can be transmitted through a system. Also called capability.

Capacity (Purchased)
The amount of energy and capacity available for purchase from outside the system.

Capacity Charge
An element in a two-part pricing method used in capacity transactions (energy charge is the other element). The capacity charge, sometimes called Demand Charge, is assessed on the amount of capacity being purchased.

Capacitor
A device that stores electrical charges and can be used to maintain voltage levels in power lines and improve electrical-system efficiency.

Capital Credits
Any net margin of revenue over expenses that is credited to cooperative members in proportion to their use of electricity.

Casement Frames and Sash
Frames of wood or metal enclosing part or all of the sash, which may be opened by means of hinges affixed to the vertical edges.

Casing
Molding of various widths and thicknesses used to trim door and window openings at the jambs.

Caulk
Compound of varying composition (butyl, acrylic latex, silicone, etc.) used to seal cracks and joints and prevent air infiltration.

CBA
Cooperative Benefit Administrators. NRECA group that manages cooperative employee benefits.

CBO
Cash Basis Only.

CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
Individual hired by the member-elected board of directors and given the authority to manage day-to-day operations of the cooperative.

Certified Cooperative Communicator (CCC)
A person who has completed a professional certification program for cooperative communicators. The program attests to the candidates professional communication skills and rural electrification knowledge through portfolio judging and testing. The certification program was started the Council of Rural Electric Communicators and is administered by a separate certification board as required by federal trade law.

CFC (NRUCFC) National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation
Acronym for the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation. It was established by the electric cooperatives in 1969 to provide financing from the private money market for expansion and improvements for cooperatives. CFC loans are used to supplement RUS loans.

Circuit
A conductor, such as wire, through which electric current flows; a complete path through which electricity flows; the path electric current takes from the power source to the device using the power and then back to the source.

Circuit Breaker
A type of switch designed to automatically interrupt power when more power is flowing through the circuit than the circuit is designed to handle.

Circuit Recloser
A device that protects electric lines by momentarily interrupting service when a fault occurs, than restoring power automatically when the fault is cleared. This keeps outages from occurring when temporary problems happen, like branches touching a line.

CIS
Acronym for Customer Information System.

Coal
A readily combustible black or brownish-black rock whose composition, including inherent moisture, consists of more than 50 percent by weight and more than 70 percent by volume of carbonaceous material. It is formed from plant remains that have been compacted, hardened, chemically altered, and metamorphosed by heat and pressure over geologic time.

COEF
Acronym for Consumer-Owned Energy Foundation

COBRA
Acronym for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. Gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances.

Co-generation
Production of electricity from steam, heat or other forms of energy produced as a by-product of another process, usually manufacturing. An example is using waste heat from (1) an industry to produce electricity, or (2) from electric utilities to produce steam for an industry or hot water for a building.

Cogenerator
A power plant, or industrial firm, that sequentially produces electric energy and useful thermal energy. Excess power from the industrial firm can be sold to a local utility, while excess steam from the power plant might be sold to a local industrial or commercial business. A generating facility that produces electricity and another form of useful thermal energy (such as heat or steam), used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes. To receive status as a qualifying facility (QF) under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (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 (FERC). (See the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 18, Part 292.)

Coincidental Demand
The sum of two or more demands that occur in the same time interval.

Coincidental Peak Load
The sum of two or more peak loads that occur in the same time interval.

Coke (Petroleum)
A residue high in carbon content and low in hydrogen that is the final product of thermal decomposition in the condensation process in cracking. This product is reported as marketable coke or catalyst coke. The conversion is 5 barrels (of 42 U.S. gallons each) per short ton. Coke from petroleum has a heating value of 6.024 million Btu per barrel.

Combination Storm Window
Triple or double track window with screens that can be opened and closed. Creates dead air space for insulation.

Combined Cycle
An electric generating technology in which electricity is produced from otherwise lost waste heat exiting from one or more gas (combustion) turbines. The exiting heat is routed to a conventional boiler or to a heat recovery steam generator for utilization by a steam turbine in the production of electricity. This process increases the efficiency of the electric generating unit.

Combined Cycle Unit
An electric generating unit that consists of one or more combustion turbines and one or more boilers with a portion of the required energy input to the boiler(s) provided by the exhaust gas of the combustion turbine(s).

Combined Pumped-Storage Plant
A pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant that uses both pumped water and natural streamflow to produce electricity.

Comfort Zone
The range of temperatures and humidities in which most people feel comfortable when dressed in typical indoor clothing and engaged in typical indoor activities.

Commercial
The commercial sector is generally defined as non-manufacturing business establishments, including hotels, motels, restaurants, wholesale businesses, retail stores, and health, social, and educational institutions. The utility may classify commercial service as all consumers whose demand or annual use exceeds some specified limit. The limit may be set by the utility based on the rate schedule of the utility.

Competitive Transition Charge
A non-bypassable charge levied on each customer of a distribution utility, including those who are served under contracts with non-utility suppliers, for recovery of a utility's transition costs.

Conductor
A material that allows an electric current to pass through it. Also, the wire that carries electricity in an electric distribution or transmission system.

Conduit, Electrical
A pipe, usually metal, in which wire is installed.

Congestion
A condition that occurs when insufficient transfer capacity is available to implement all of the preferred schedules for electricity transmission simultaneously.

Coniferous Trees
Trees that do not shed at a particular season or stage of growth.

Construction, Frame
A type of construction in which the structural parts are wood or depend upon a wood frame for support.

Consumption (Fuel)
The amount of fuel used for gross generation, providing standby service, start-up and/or flame stabilization.

Contract Demand
The maximum level of power a generating utility agrees to have available for deliver. Measured in kilowatts.

Contract Price
Price of fuels marketed on a contract basis covering a period of 1 or more years. Contract prices reflect market conditions at the time the contract was negotiated and therefore remain constant throughout the life of the contract or are adjusted through escalation clauses. Generally, contract prices do not fluctuate widely.

Contract Receipts
Purchases based on a negotiated agreement that generally covers a period of one or more years.

Cookies
Files containing information about Web site visitors. This information can include the visitor's user name, preferences, etc. The information is provided by visitors during their first visit to a Web site. The server records this information in a text file and stores it on the visitor's hard drive. At the beginning of later visits, the server looks for a cookie and configures itself based on the information provided.

Cooling Capacity
The amount of heat, measured in BTUs, that an air conditioning unit can remove from the air in one hour.

Cooperative (CO-OP) Electric Utility
A member-owned business, electric utility, legally established to be owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its service with membership open to those who use its services. Democratically controlled and operated on a non-profit basis, a cooperative returns any margins or profits to members on the basis of patronage. The cooperative principles are 1) open and voluntary membership; 2) democratic control; 3) limited return on investment; 4) return of surplus to members; 5) cooperative education; and 6) cooperation among cooperatives. The utility company will generate, transmit, and/or distribute supplies of electric energy to a specified area not being serviced by another utility.

Cornice
The overhang of a pitched roof at the eave line, usually consisting of a facia board, a soffit for a closed cornice, and appropriate moldings.

Cost
The amount paid to acquire resources, such as plant and equipment, fuel, or labor services.

Cost Based Rate
An electric rate structure in which each classification (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.) pays its fare share of the cooperative’s cost so that no group subsidizes another.

Cost Of Service
The cost of providing a consumer-member with electric service, not including the cost of electricity.

Cost of Service Regulation
Traditional electric utility regulation under which a utility is allowed to set rates based on the cost of providing service to customers and the right to earn a limited profit.

Cost Of Service Study
Determines how much it costs an electric utility to serve various classes of consumers; provides the basis for evaluation different discount and incentive programs and results in the development of cost-based rates.

CPR
Acronym for Continuing Property Records

Crawl Space
Space between ground and bottom floor; suitable for insulation.

CSIF
Acronym for Cooperative System Integrity Fund

CSR
Acronym for Customer Service Representative.

CSS
Cascading style sheet. Includes typographical information on how Web pages should look. Used together with HTML.

Current (Electric)
A flow of electrically charged particles. The unit of measurement is the ampere.

Customer Choice
The ability of an end-user (residential, commercial, or industrial customer) to purchase electricity from any supplier at negotiated rates and have that electricity delivered to a specific location.

Cutout
A transformer fuse. Called a cutout because when the fuse is removed the circuit is opened.

Cycle
A single period of two phases in which alternating current reverses its direction and before returning to the first state. Alternating current consists of a succession of cycles.

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Page last updated: Friday, March 5, 2010