Ampere (amp) - The official unit of electric current/quantity.

Backfeeding - Switching customers to receive their power from one substation to another.

Base load - The nearly steady level of demand on a utility system; the minimum continuous load or demand in a power system over a given period of time.

Capacity - The power output rating of a generator or electric system, typically reported in megawatts (MW).

Circuit - The path electric current takes from the power source to the device using the power and back to the source

Circuit breaker - A protective device that opens an electric circuit when a short occurs or the system is otherwise abnormally stressed.  Hancock-Wood's circuit breakers are configured to reset automatically.  This keeps long term outages from happening when temporary problems occur, like tree branches touching a line.

Conductors - Materials which allow their electrons to be easily transferred.

Cooperative - A nonprofit utility owned by its members.

Current - A flow of electric charge or the rate of flow of electric charge.

Demand - The rate at which electric energy is delivered to customers by a system at a given instant -- or averaged over a designated period -- usually expressed in kilowatts or megawatts.

Demand charge - The portion of electric rates which is expected to recover the costs associated with the level of demand for service.  Included in demand charges are capital or investment related costs and the cost of operation and maintenance of generation, transmission and distribution.

Distribution - Actual delivery of electricity to the end user (Hancock-Wood is a 'distribution cooperative').

Distribution system - The poles, wire and transformers used to deliver electric energy from a bulk power supplier to the consumer.  The distribution system begins at the substation and ends at the service entrance of the home or business.

Electricity - The motion of electons through a conductor.

Energy charge - Non-fuel variable costs, mainly related to operation and maintenance (dollars/kWh).

Fuel charge - Fuel costs (dollars/kWh) for various generation assets.

Fuse - A metal device that protects electrical equipment by melting and opening the circuit when a short circuit, other fault or overload occurs.

Generation - The actual production of electricity.

Grid - The layout of the electrical transmission system or a synchonized transmission network.

Hot wire - The ungrounded current carrying wire in an electrical system.

Insulator - A device that supports electric wires and prevents undesired flow of electricity; usually made of glass or porcelain.

IOUs (Investor-owned utility) - A utility company organized under state law as a publicly traded corporation for the purpose of providing utility service and earning a profit for its stockholders.

Kilowatt (Kw) - A measure of electric power equal to one thousand watts.

Kilowatt hour (kWh) - The basic unit of measurement of electric energy.  One kWh is the amount of energy it takes to power 1,000 watts for one hour. 

Line / power line - A carrier of electricity on an electric power system.

Load - The amount of power delivered to or required by an electric system.

Main circuit - A power line that serves as the backbone of the electric system. Main circuits leave the substations and branch out to taps and service wires.

Megawatt (MW) - The basic unit of measurement of electric power or capacity.  One megawatt is equal to one million watts.

Meter - A device used to measure and record the amount of electric power used by a consumer.

Meter base - A metal enclosure that houses an electric meter.

Neutral wire - A grounded current carrying wire in an electrical system.

Outage - Interruption of service to an electric consumer because a power plant, transmission line, distribution line or other facility is not operating.

Patronage Capital - Also called capital credits, any net margin of revenue over expenses that is credited to cooperative members in proportion to their use of electricity.

PCA (Power Cost Adjustment) - An item used to adjust costs charged to members when prices of items used to generate electricity spike and fall over time: fuels (primarily coal and natural gas), environmental modifications to power plants, when additional capacity is purchased, when there are increases in transmission costs.

Power Factor - The ratio of the active power flowing to the load to the apparent power (VA).

Recloser - A device that isolates sections of electric lines to help prevent long-term outages and system damage.

SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) - A system which allows our operations department to remotely monitor and restore substation outages using a computer.  Power supply can be shifted from a substation experiencing an outage to an energized substation that can provide electricity (this process is known as backfeeding).

Service / service drop - The line that carries electricity from a distribution line to a home or business.

Single phase line - An electric distribution line that consists of one "hot" line and one neutral line.

Substation - An electrical facility containing equipment for controlling the flow of electricity from supplier to distributor.

Tap - An electric circuit with limited capacity extending from a main circuit; usually supplies a small amount of consumers (small may mean an entire subdivision).

Three-phase line - An electric distribution line that consists of three "hot" lines and one neutral line. Used in heavily populated areas or to supply large commercial loads.

Transformer - A device used to lower or raise voltage. A distribution transformer lowers line voltage from 14,400 to 240 volts before the electricity enters a home.

Transmission Charges - Fixed and variable transmission costs (dollars/kW and dollars/kWh).

Transmission line - The poles, towers and lines used to move bulk electricity from a generating plant to a substation.

VA (Volt-Ampere) - The amount of apparent power in an electrical circuit, equal to the product of voltage and current. The active power is equal to the apparent power multiplied by the power factor.

Volt/Voltage - Measurement of electrical pressure (analogous to water pressure in pounds per square inch).

Watt - The electrical unit of power or rate of doing work; the rate of energy transfer equivalent to one ampere flowing under a pressure of one volt at unity power factor. This is also known as active power.