Glossary
ACH Debit: ACH stands for automated clearing house, which is a network that electronically processes money. Typically this would be an automatic withdrawal from your checking account.
Aggregator: A group or organization (generally a Municipality, apartment complex, community or other large entity) that represents energy consumers to purchase electricity. The goal is to negotiate lower prices which are passed on to members of the group. The group of consumers is called a buying group.
Authorized Decision Maker: The individual who signed the Liberty Power agreement or gave voice authorization through the TPV process. Only the Authorized Decision Maker has the authority to make changes to the account or appoint other company members to make decisions about the Liberty Power account.
Base Rates: The rates utility companies charge to cover its non-fuel costs.
Billing Cycle: The Billing Cycle is based on the utility’s meter read cycle. Some months the number of days in the billing cycle will vary, but it is approximately every 30 days.
Broker: Any entity that serves as an agent or intermediary in the purchase and sale of electricity to retail customers.
Capacity: The amount of electric power that can be delivered at one time by a generating unit, generating station, or all the plants on an electric system.
Change of Ownership Form: In Texas, a Texas Change of Ownership Request Form must be completed by both the previous and new owners to ensure there is no service interruption. The completed form, a copy of the bill of sale, and a Liberty Power contract should be sent to Liberty Power via fax or mail.
Co-generator: A power plant that produces both electrical (or mechanical) energy and thermal (steam or process heat) energy.
Competition: Allowing two or more entities to sell similar goods and services, in this case, energy generation, in the same market.
Competitive Supplier: The electricity providers that compete in a deregulated market. Also referred to as retail suppliers. Additional terms, based on your state, are REP, RES, EGS, and ESCO.
Consumer Contract: A written agreement or verbal authorization (TPV) between a customer and an electricity supplier.
Contract Terms: The provisions of an agreement between an electricity supplier and a consumer, including such items as the cost, length of service, and ability to end the contract.
Cramming: The practice of adding charges to a customer´s monthly bill for services that the customer has not authorized. This is an illegal practice.
Customer Charge: A flat monthly charge payable regardless of the level of usage.
Customer Choice: The ability of electricity consumers to shop, compare prices, and choose the company that generates or supplies their electricity.
Denial of Access: A Denial of Access letter is sent when the local utility is unable to gain access to read your electric meter. Please contact the local utility to give them access to read your meter and ensure accurate billing of your account.
Demand: The amount of energy used at a specific moment in time, measured in watts, kilowatts (kW=1000 watts), or megawatts (mW=1000 kilowatts, or 1 million watts).
Deregulation: The elimination of monopoly service in an industry to allow competition to develop, sometimes used interchangeably with restructuring.
Distribution: The process of delivering electricity through low-voltage power lines to a consumer’s home or business. Distribution includes local wires, transformers, substations, and other equipment used to deliver electricity from the high-voltage transmission lines to homes and businesses.
Distribution Charges: The rate (per kilowatt hour) billed by the utility to deliver electricity to a home or business.
Distribution Utility: The regulated electric utility entity that constructs and maintains the distribution wires connecting the transmission grid to the final customer.
Due Date: Date that your payment must be received by Liberty Power. If you are not sure that your check will arrive in the mail on time to meet the due date, you can pay by phone by calling 1-866-POWER-99.
Early Termination Fee: A fee charged for closing an account prior to the end of the contract term to cover the expenses Liberty Power incurs in pre-purchasing your electricity in order to secure your fixed rate for the term of your contract. Please see your terms and conditions for the exact calculation of the fee.
Electric Supplier: An entity (including an electric aggregator or participating municipal electric utility) licensed by a state utility regulatory agency to provide electric generation services to consumers. With electric choice, consumers can choose their electric supplier. The power is then delivered by the consumer’s electric distribution company.
Electric Utility: Any person or state agency with a monopoly franchise (including any municipality) that sells electric energy to end–use customers.
Energy: The result of consuming power over a period of time. In electricity, measured in watt hours: 1000 watt hours = 1 kilowatt hour, or the equivalent of a 100 watt bulb running for 10 hours. Most electricity rates/prices for residential service are quoted in kilowatt–hours. In gas, measured in volumes of gas (cubic feet) or a proxy for volumes (therms, q.v.).
Energy Efficiency Programs: Programs designed to help consumers use energy more efficiently.
Enrollment Agreement: Your written or verbal authorization to purchase electricity from Liberty Power. This is a binding agreement and may involve a fee for early termination.
Gross Receipts Tax (GRT): A tax levied in Pennsylvania that must be included with the energy rate to compute your total charge. The rate that appears on your invoice will include the Liberty Power energy cost as well as the GRT.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the price, terms, and conditions of power sold in interstate commerce and regulates the price, terms, and conditions of all transmission services. FERC is the federal counterpart to state utility regulatory commissions.
Fixed Rate: A pricing plan that does not change for the full term of the agreement. Each month you will be billed at the same energy rate, no matter what changes occur in the energy market.
FPA – Federal Power Act of 1935: Established guidelines for federal regulation of interstate energy sales. It is the primary statute governing FERC regulation of the electric sector.
Future Start Date: Liberty Power offers you the convenience of purchasing your electricity with a flow start that is in the future. This is especially valuable if you are under contract with a different supplier or have a stay requirement with your utility. It’s also convenient for renewals so you can be sure that your rate changes to another fixed-rate term and does not rollover to a default variable rate.
Generation: The process of producing electrical energy. Generation may also refer to the amount of electrical energy produced, usually expressed in watt–hours, kilowatt–hours (kWh), or megawatt hours (MWh).
Generation Company: A company that generates electricity. This energy can be produced by gas, nuclear reactor, coal plant, or a variety of renewable sources.
Grid: A system of interconnected power lines and generators that is managed to meet the requirements of the customers connected to the grid at various points.
Green Power: A general term that describes power that is environmentally friendly. It typically uses a mix of energy sources with renewable energy being at least one of the sources.
Home Independence Plan: The Liberty Power fixed-rate plan for residential customers. Available in 12 and 24-month terms
IPP – Independent Power Producer: A company other than a utility that operates a generation facility and sells power to suppliers for resale to retail customers.
ISO – Independent System Operator: An organization responsible for maintaining instantaneous balance of the grid system, ensuring that loads match available resources. ISOs in which Liberty Power operates are: NYISO (New York state), NEISO (New England), PJM (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland – also includes Delaware and Illinois and parts of Ohio will soon join), MISO (Midwest – Ameren Illinois, parts of Ohio); ERCOT (Texas), and CAISO (California).
Kilowatt–hour (kWh): This is the basic unit of electric energy equal to one kilowatt of power supplied to or taken from an electric circuit steadily for one hour. One kilowatt-hour equals 1,000 watt–hours.
Late Fee: Fee assessed when payment is posted and cleared through the account later than the due date.
Letter of Authorization: The Letter of Authorization is required in certain markets to give us permission to obtain usage data from the local utility and exchange on-going information regarding your account as needed. It is required to provide you with your electricity supply service from Liberty Power.
Load: The amount of power drawn from a utility system at a given point in time. The peak load is the highest amount of power drawn down at any one time, or the utilities maximum capacity or demand.
Load Profile: Information on a customer’s energy usage over a period of time, sometimes shown in a graph format.
Market-Based Price: A price set by the mutual decisions of many buyers and sellers in a competitive market.
Marketer: An entity selling wholesale or retail power in a competitive market.
Megawatt–hour (MWh): One megawatt–hour equals one million (1,000,000) watt-hours.
Minimum Stay Requirements: A requirement imposed by the utility when a customer returns to the utility from a competitive supplier. Not applicable to all utilities.
Monopoly: A single seller has control over market sales.
Non–Utility Generator (NUG): Any entity not regulated by the government as a public utility that owns or operates a generating facility and offers electric power for sale to utilities or the public (also known as Independent Power Producer).
Obligation to Serve: The obligation of a utility to provide electric service to any customer who seeks that service and is willing to pay the rates set for that service.
Off–Peak: Those periods of time when energy is being delivered far below the utility’s maximum demand.
On–Peak: Those periods of time when energy is being delivered near and including the utility’s maximum demand.
Peak Load: The maximum load experienced by an electric customer over a given period of time.
Peaking Capacity: Capacity used in times of maximum demand.
Power Pool: Two or more interconnected electric systems that seek to obtain greater reliability of service and efficiency of operation by coordinating the development and operation of their electric generation and transmission facilities.
Price to Compare (PTC): The utility’s rate for a specific service class. Each service class will have a different PTC. Also referred to as the Standard Offer Service.
Price Cap: A way of setting rates in which the utility is given a limit on the average dollar–per–customer revenue it may collect.
Provider of Last Resort: A legal obligation (traditionally given to utilities) to provide service to a customer when competitive suppliers have decided they no longer want to do business what that customer.
Public Commission: State agency that is responsible for regulating the state’s public utilities. The Commission is overseeing the deregulation of the electric market.
PURPA – The Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act of 1978: Among other things, this federal legislation requires utilities to buy electric power from private “qualifying facilities” at an avoided cost rate.
Reliability: The ability of the electric system to supply the electrical demand and energy requirements at all times and to withstand sudden disturbances such as electric short circuits or unanticipated loss of system facilities.
Renewable Energy: Sustainable energy technologies that include solar, wind, trash–to–energy, water, and methane gas from landfills, fuel cells, and biomass.
Restructuring: Usually refers to separation of the utility functions of vertically integrated energy utilities into individually operated and owned entities, sometimes used interchangeably with deregulation.
Retail Competition: A system under which more than one electric provider can sell to retail customers and where retail customers are allowed to buy from more than one provider.
Retail Market: A market in which electricity and other energy services are sold directly to the end–use customer.
Retail Supplier: See Competitive Supplier.
Rollover Variable: Also called Default Variable. Month-to-month rate charged to customers that do not renew their fixed rate plan. Rate follows the movement of the energy market and changes each month.
Securitization: A process that allows utilities to use the expected future revenue from its monopoly customers to finance bonds. It has been used to pay off stranded costs in some states. (See Stranded Costs)
Service Area: The geographical territory served by an electric company.
Slamming: A term used when an electric supplier switches a consumer’s service without permission. Slamming is illegal.
Standard Offer Service (“SOS”): The utility’s rate for a specific service class. Each service class will have a different SOS. Also referred to as the Price to Compare.
Stranded Costs: Costs electric utilities will not recover as power markets move from protected monopolies to open, competitive environments.
Switching: Refers to a customer receiving retail electric service/supplies from a company or organization other the customer´s traditional utility.
Sales and Use Tax (SUT): A tax levied in New Jersey that must be included with the energy rate to compute your total charge. The rate that appears on your invoice will include the Liberty Power energy cost, as well as the SUT.
Tariff: A document, approved by the responsible regulatory agency, listing the terms and conditions, including a schedule of prices, under which utility services will be provided.
Third Party Verification (TPV), also known as Voice Verification: This is a binding agreement between you and Liberty Power for the purchase of electricity. It confirms your decision to select Liberty Power as your electricity supplier, as well as the term, rate and other contractual elements. The TPV may be an automated system or have a live operator.
Time–of–Use (TOU) Rates: The pricing of electricity based on the estimated cost of electricity during a particular time block, either time–of–day or by season.
Transmission: The process of transporting electricity from a generation company to an electric company over high-voltage power lines.
Transmission and Distribution Service Provider (TDSP): The company that manages the delivery of electricity to your home or business. The term is most frequently used in Texas; in other markets the utility handles the delivery of electricity.
Transportation Fee: Charge for moving natural gas through pipelines from one place to another.
Unbundling: Separating electric utility service into its basic components — generation, transmission, and distribution — and offering each component separately for sale with its own rates.
Utility: A regulated energy company with the characteristics of a natural monopoly.
Wholesale Competition: A system in which a power distributor can buy its power from a variety of power producers.
Wholesale Power Market: The purchase and sale of electricity from generators to resellers (who sell to retail customers).
Wires Charge: Charges levied for the use of the transmission or distribution wires.