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Glossary
A B C D E F G H I K LM N O P R S T U V W
A
Access number: any set of numbers, dialed before the area code, that are required to access a particular rate plan when calling long distance.Activation fee: a one-time fee for starting a new telephone service plan. Long-distance activation fees can range from $0 to more than $20, depending on the service plan and the carrier.
Actual reading: a company reading the dials on your natural gas or electric meter to determine a household’s monthly energy usage.
Affiliate: a non-regulated company that has the same owner as a regulated utility company.
Affinity aggregation: groups such as churches, school districts and neighborhood associations can aggregate or join together to purchase energy.
Aggregation: aggregation is the process of joining consumers together as a group to buy electricity and/or natural gas.
Aggregator: local government or affinity groups, such as churches and school districts, that arrange to buy energy in bulk for a group of consumers.
B
Base Rate: the base rate, which sometimes appears on the natural gas bill as the transportation or delivery charge, covers all costs associated with delivering natural gas to the home. It also includes taxes and other surcharges and generally is between 30 and 40 percent of the total bill.Basic local exchange service: dial tone telephone service without any additional features.
Billing increment: a portion of time, usually one minute, used to measure and determine the cost of a telephone call. With a one-minute billing unit, the duration of calls is rounded up to the next full minute.
C
Calculated a meter reading that is determined by reviewing a home’s energy usage history for the same month during previous years.
Call forwarding: sends a customer’s calls to another telephone number of his or her choice.
Call waiting: notifies a telephone customer who is already on a call that there is an incoming call; enables the customer to switch between conversations.
Caller ID: allows the recipient of a call to see the telephone number of the person placing the incoming call, unless the incoming call’s telephone number has been blocked from appearing on the screen.
Ccf: a unit of measuring natural gas and water. It is short for hundred cubic feet. The average residential household uses 100 Ccf of gas per month.
Certified natural gas supplier: a supplier that has met certain financial and managerial requirements in order to supply natural gas to consumers is certified by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Competition: a market structure in which two or more companies compete for customers’ business.
Conservation: reducing a customer’s use of water, natural gas or electricity to decrease the need to produce and/or transport these commodities. Conservation reduces utilities’ costs for the consumer and reduces environmental pollution.
Cooperative (co-op): a type of utility in which the customers are also the owners. Co-ops are common in rural areas that are expensive to serve because of the long distances between users. The Ohio Consumer’s Counsel (OCC) does not have jurisdiction in matters dealing with cooperative utilities.
Cramming: the act of billing a customer for additional services that the customer did not order. Consumers are often unaware of such service charges and have not consented to them.
Customer charge: the monthly fee charged by utility companies for providing service.
Customer choice: the ability of consumers to choose alternative providers for natural gas, electricity and telephone services.
D
Daily peak: the maximum amount of energy or service demanded in one day from a company or utility service.
Demand: a measure of customer or system load requirements over a measured period of time.
Deregulation: the process of removing certain regulations on utility companies.
Distribution: the equipment (wires, pipes, substations, etc.) used to distribute and deliver electricity and natural gas.
Distribution charges or delivery service charges: part of the basic service charges on every customer’s electric or gas bill for delivering electricity or natural gas to a customer’s home or business. This distribution charge is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). This charge will vary according to how much electricity or natural gas is used.
Do-Not-Call registry to prevent unwanted telemarketing calls, consumers can list their home telephone, cell phone, pager and fax numbers on the Do-Not-Call registry.
E
Electric cooperative: a not-for-profit electric light company that is both financed in whole or in part under the Rural Electrification Act and owns or operates generating, transmission or distribution facilities in the state. Electric cooperatives are not required to offer their customers choice under the law.
Electric choice or restructuring: describes the changes in the electric industry as a result of Senate Bill 3, Ohio's electric restructuring law. As a result of the law, consumers are able to choose which company supplies the generation portion of their electricity.
Electric supplier: a company that supplies electricity to consumers. This will include power brokers and marketers, non-governmental aggregators and independent power producers.
Estimated reading: a meter reading that is determined by reviewing a home’s energy usage history for the same month during previous years.
F
Fixed price: fixed rate per unit of natural gas that remains the same, usually for a set time period.
Flat rate: an option in which an unlimited number of local calls can be made for a “flat” monthly rate. This differs from the long-distance flat rate in that regardless of the number of local calls placed, the monthly flat rate service fee will remain the same. Some long-distance carriers flat rate offers might include “anytime, anywhere two cents per minute.”
G
Gas cost recovery (GCR): This makes up the largest portion of a gas bill. To deliver gas to a customer, the utility purchases gas from a producer and has it shipped through a pipeline. The GCR rate, which recovers both the cost of the gas and the use of the space in the interstate pipeline, is the charge for the gas on a unit price. This rate changes monthly or quarterly, and the changes will affect customers’ bills.
Generation: the process of producing electrical energy.
Governmental aggregator: a municipality, township or county that acts as an aggregator to supply energy to its residents.
Grid: A network for the transmission of electricity throughout the state or nation.
H
Historical usage: the amount of energy used over a period of time.
I
Interstate: between two states
Intrastate: within one state
Investor owned utility company: a utility company owned by its investors through shares of stock.
K
Kilowatt (kW): this is equal to 1,000 watts; it is used as a measure of demand for electricity during a preset time (minutes, hours, days, or months). Ten 100-watt light bulbs use one kW of electric power.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh): the basic unit of electric energy for which most customers are charged. The amount of electricity used by ten 100-watt light bulbs left on for one hour. Consumers are charged for electricity in cents per kilowatt-hour.
L
Load: the amount of electricity being used at one time by a customer, circuit or system.
Load management: shifting of electricity use from periods of high demand to periods of low demand.
Local calling area: the area defined by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) where a telephone call placed from within the local calling area to a number within the same local calling area is covered by the local service rate.
Local electric utilities: companies that supply and deliver electricity to consumers in a regulated environment. This does not include electric cooperatives and municipal electric systems.
Long Distance: Telephoning another individual who is outside of the local calling area.
M
Market development period: the period of time allowed for the competitive market to develop.
Mcf: a unit of measuring natural gas. It is short for thousand cubic feet. The average residential household uses 10 Mcf of gas per month.
Measured rate: in this form of telephone billing, charges reflect the duration, time of day, and distance of each call. Other measurements include number of calls and day of the week.(See peak/off-peak rate, message rate.)
Message rate: a telephone billing method in which a customer is charged a specific amount for a maximum number of calls each month. If the customer makes more than the allotted number of calls, he or she is charged separately for each additional call.
Minimum telephone service standards: a set of rules that contain service quality standards and consumer protections that all companies providing local and long distance service must follow. The regulations include how long companies can take to restore service and what action can be taken if your bill is not paid on time.
Municipal electric utility: a municipal corporation that owns or operates facilities to generate, transmit or distribute electricity. Municipal electric utilities are not required to offer customers choice under the law.
Municipal utility: a utility owned by the city. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) does not have jurisdiction in matters relating with municipal utilities.
N
Natural gas: a hydrocarbon gas that is usually obtained from underground sources, often in association with petroleum and coal deposits. It generally contains a high percentage of methane and inert gases.
Nuclear power: electricity generated in facilities (fission reactors) that split atoms of radioactive materials such as uranium. These reactors produce radioactive waste but not air pollution.
Number portability: the ability to change local service providers and still keep the same telephone number.
O
Off-peak/on-peak: blocks of time when energy demand and price is low (off-peak) or high (on-peak).Opt-in: each consumer is required to agree to participate in the program before being included in the aggregation pool. The opt-in method does not require voter approval at election.
Opt-out: each consumer is automatically included in the aggregation buying pool unless the individual affirmatively decides to opt out or withdraw from the group. The opt-out method requires voter approval at an election.
P
Peak/off-peak rate: any variable telephone rate that is applied on a per call basis. The variable rates are typically set at day (highest rate); evening (moderate rate) and night/weekend (lowest rate). The time and rates will vary with each carrier and are typically applied to toll calls.Price cap: a situation where a price for a commodity cannot rise above a pre-determined fixed rate.
Price to compare: the price for an electric supplier to beat in order for you to save money. It will be shown on your local electric utility bill.
PUCO: the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. This is the regulatory agency that serves as the “judge” in utility proceedings.
R
Regulation: a rule or law established by the federal or state government which sets the rules under which a utility must operate.Reliability: providing adequate and dependable generation, transmission and distribution service.
Restructuring: the process of changing the structure of a utility industry from one of monopoly providers to one of open competition among many providers for customers.
S
Slamming: the act of changing a consumer’s long-distance telephone carrier without his/her knowledge or permission. This is typically achieved through some type of deceptive advertising. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined carriers with a proven history of slamming practices. Slamming can also be the act of changing a consumer’s electric or natural gas supplier without the consumer’s permission.Subscriber line charge (SLC): an amount (determined by the FCC) that each wireline user must pay for the use of that telephone service. The amount of the SLC depends on the number of lines into a house and whether those lines are used for business or residential purposes.
T
Ten- plus dialing or 10-10-XXX dialing: a specific seven-digit number (10-10 followed by a three-digit access code) that is used by a consumer to access a specific long-distance company's network for telephone calls. Customers don’t normally need to dial in this number unless they want to use a long-distance company other than the one they have designated as their primary carrier or they have yet to select a primary carrier.Toll call: a generic term used to describe any telephone call other than a local call. A long-distance call, or call placed to a number outside the local calling area, is billed on a per-call basis at the applicable long-distance rate.
Transmission: electric lines which move high voltage electricity from its production site to the point of distribution to customers.
Transmission charges: part of the basic service charges on every customer’s bill for transporting a utility commodity (usually electricity or gas) from the source of supply to the distribution company.
U
Unbundling: breaking down utility service into its different parts so each part can be priced separately.
Universal service: a policy goal that basic utility service be reasonably priced and available to everyone. Universal basic telephone service is a formal policy goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Utility: a regulated monopoly delivering electricity, natural gas or other fundamental products or services (such as water and telephone service) to people within a given region.
V
Variable rate: a price per unit of natural gas that can change over a period of time, based on various conditions.Vertical services: any service offering that is not essential to the delivery of dial tone. For local telephone service, vertical service include, among others, voice mail, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting and Caller ID.
Voice mail: a service that is essentially an answering machine at the telephone company.
W
Watt: this is a measure of the amount of electricity needed to power a device such as a light bulb. See kilowatt.
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