Glossary of Terms
Affiliate: A company that is controlled by another or has the same owner as another company.
Aggregator: An entity that brings customers together to buy electricity in bulk in order to increase customers’ buying power. Aggregators facilitate the sale of power but usually are not sellers.
Delivery Services: Those services provided by the electric utility, including standard metering and billing that are necessary for the delivery of power to customers.
Delivery Charges: Charges that cover the operating and distribution costs of the utility. These charges may also be called distribution charges.
Distribution: The use of wires by the local utility to deliver electricity to a home or business. These services include standard metering.
Electric Utility: An entity that provides electric power generation and delivery services within a local service area and also may sell generation services to customers in other utility service territories.
Fixed Price: A plan that charges the same price per kilowatt hour each month, but the monthly bill varies based on the amount of electricity consumed.
Fixed Bill: A plan that charges the same dollar amount each month for a set period of time no matter what the cost per kilowatt hour or usage is. This is different from utility budget billing plans as there is no settlement at the end of the agreement.
Generation: The act of using fuels, such as fossil, nuclear or renewable energy to make electricity.
Kilowatt-hour or kWh: The standard unit of measure of electricity consumed.
Real Time Pricing: A rate plan offered by both Ameren and Comed that is based on the hourly market price per kilowatt hour for electricity. Hourly prices for the next day are set the night before and can be communicated to the customer so that the customer knows the cheapest time of day to run major appliances. To participate in this program, a special meter capable of recording hourly information will be installed.
Rescission Period: The period of time during which a customer may cancel or rescind a supply agreement without penalty
Supplier: Any person, corporation, generator, broker, marketer, aggregator or other entity certified by the ICC that sells electricity to customers.
Transmission: The delivery of electricity from a generating facility to local utility facilities, typically over high-voltage power lines.
Variable Price: This type of plan is similar to the market based or index price plans. The price per kilowatt hour may go up or down with market trends, but the plan may not be tied to a market index. For example, it may be based on the supplier’s average cost to purchase electricity.