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Advanced Meter: Any new or appropriately retrofitted meter that functions as part of a system that includes such meters and the associated hardware, software, and communications devices, that collects time-differentiated energy usage, and that is deployed pursuant to P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.130, Advanced Metering.
Advanced Metering System (AMS): A system, including Advanced Meters and the associated hardware, software, and communications devices, that collects time-differentiated energy usage and is deployed pursuant to P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.130, Advanced Metering.
Customer: An Entity that purchases electricity for its own consumption.
Customer Choice: The freedom of a Retail Customer to purchase electric services, either individually or on an aggregated basis with other retail Customers, from the provider or providers of the Customer's choice and to choose among various fuel types, energy efficiency programs, and renewable power suppliers.
Day-Ahead: The 24-hour period before the start of the Operating Day.
Day-Ahead Market (DAM): A daily, co-optimized market in the Day-Ahead for Ancillary Service capacity, certain CRRs, and forward financial energy transactions.
Day-Ahead Market (DAM) Energy Bid: A proposal to buy energy in the DAM at a Settlement Point at a monotonically decreasing price with increasing quantity.
Distribution Loss Factor (DLF): The ratio of a DSP's estimated Distribution Losses to the total amount of energy deemed consumed (Interval Data Recorder (IDR) plus profiled consumption) on the DSP's system.
Distribution Losses: The difference between the energy delivered to the Distribution System and the energy consumed by Customers connected to the Distribution System.
Electric Utility: A corporation, person, agency, authority, or other legal entity or instrumentality that owns and/or operates facilities within the United States, its territories, or Puerto Rico for the generation, transmission, distribution, or sale of electric energy primarily for use by the public and files forms listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 18, Part 141. Facilities that qualify as co-generators or small power producers under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) are not considered electric utilities.
Energy: The capacity for doing work as measured by the capability of doing work (potential energy) or the conversion of this capability to motion (kinetic energy). Energy has several forms, some of which are easily convertible and can be changed to another form useful for work. Most of the world's convertible energy comes from fossil fuels that are burned to produce heat that is then used as a transfer medium to mechanical or other means in order to accomplish tasks. Electrical energy is usually measured in kilowatt hours, while heat energy is usually measured in British thermal units.
Energy Charge: That portion of the charge for electric service based upon the electric energy (kWh) consumed or billed.
ERCOT: The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to 23 million Texas customers - representing 85 percent of the state's electric load and 75 percent of the Texas land area. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects 40,500 miles of transmission lines and more than 550 generation units. ERCOT also manages financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers customer switching for 6.6 million Texans in competitive choice areas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas ensures a reliable electric grid and efficient electricity markets.
ERCOT System: The interconnected power system that is under the jurisdiction of the PUCT and that is not synchronously interconnected with either the Eastern Interconnection or the Western Electricity Coordinating Council.
ERCOT System Demand: The sum of all power flows, in MW, on the DC Ties and from Generation Resources metered at the points of their interconnections with the ERCOT System at any given time.
ERCOT Transmission Grid: All Transmission Facilities that are part of the ERCOT System.
Fossil Fuel: Any naturally occurring organic fuel, such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas.
Gas Turbine Plant: A plant in which the prime mover is a gas turbine. A gas turbine consists typically of an axial-flow air compressor, one or more combustion chambers, where liquid or gaseous fuel is burned and the hot gases are passed to the turbine and where the hot gases expand to drive the generator and are then used to run the compressor.
Interval Data Recorder (IDR): A metering device that is capable of recording energy in each Settlement Interval under Section 9, Settlement and Billing, and Section 10, Metering.
Kilowatt (kW): One thousand watts.
Kilowatthour (kWh): One thousand watthours.
LOA: Letter of Authorization (LOA) is a form that permits a agent/broker/aggregator to request electricity usage data on a customer's behalf. This form is an authorization to request account information from your electric utility. This is not a binding agreement for services and does not contractually obligate an acceptance to any proposal.
Load: The amount of energy in MWh delivered at any specified point or points on a system.
Load Zone: A group of Electrical Buses assigned to the same zone under Section 3.4, Load Zones. Every Electrical Bus in ERCOT with a Load must be assigned to a Load Zone for Settlement purposes. A NOIE Load Zone is a type of Load Zone. The load zones are geographic regions where power prices are settled by the market administrator (in this case, ERCOT). In the ERCOT market, there are four load zones: North Zone, West Zone, South Zone and Houston Zone, where power prices are settled uniformly with one price for load in that zone for every 15-minute interval.
Market Clearing Price for Energy: The highest price associated with a Congestion Zone for a Settlement Interval for Balancing Energy deployed during the Settlement Interval.
Megawatt (MW): One million watts.
Move-In Request: A request submitted by a Competitive Retailer on behalf of a Customer to initiate service at a Premise with the requesting Competitive Retailer.
Move-Out Request: A request submitted by a Competitive Retailer on behalf of a Customer to terminate service at a Premise with the requesting Competitive Retailer.
Outage: The condition of a Tranmission Facility or a portion of a Facility, or Generation Resource that is part of the ERCOT Transmission Grid and defined in the Network Operations Model that has been removed from its normal service, excluding the operations of Transmission Facilities associated with the start-up and shutdown of Generation Resources.
Peak Demand: The maximum load during a specified period of time.
Peak Load Plant: A plant usually housing old, low-efficiency steam units; gas turbines; diesels; or pumped-storage hydroelectric equipment normally used during the peak-load periods.
Peaking Capacity: Capacity of generating equipment normally reserved for operation during the hours of highest daily, weekly, or seasonal loads. Some generating equipment may be operated at certain times as peaking capacity and at other times to serve loads on an around-the-clock basis.
PUCT: The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) regulates the states electric, communication and telecommunication utilities, implements respective legislation, and offers customer assistance for resolving consumer complaints.
REP: Retail Electric Provider (REP)
Scheduling Process: The process through which schedules for energy and Ancillary Services are submitted by QSEs to ERCOT as further described in Section 4, Scheduling.
Season: Winter months are December, January, and February; Spring months are March, April, and May; Summer months are June, July, and August; Fall months are September, October, and November.
TDSP: An Entity that has been selected to own and operate Transmission Facilities and has a PUCT approved code of conduct in accordance with P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.272, Code of Conduct for Electric Utilities and Their Affiliates.
Trading Hub: Trading hubs are trading points that are used by market participants (generators, traders, load-serving entities) because they provide an efficient manner for all market participants to hedge or trade energy. There are four trading hubs in ERCOT—Houston, North, South, West—that match the four load zones, but that could have different clearing prices than the load zones. A designated Settlement Point consisting of a Hub Bus or group of Hub Buses and the associated Settlement price calculation methodology prescribed in the definition of the Hub in Section 3.5.2, Hub Definitions. Hubs may only be created by an amendment to Section 3.5.2. The list of Hub Buses and the Settlement price calculation methodology that define a Hub can never be modified, and a Hub, once defined, exists in perpetuity.
Transmission Charges: A charge added to a customer's electrical bill, which is intended to cover the cost of transmitting energy over the transmission grid between the generating facility and the local utility's distribution facilities. Prior to deregulation of the energy industry, electricity was provided as a single bundled service, and energy billings covered all costs incurred in production and delivery. In deregulated markets, separate companies can offer specific services involved in this process, and one of those services is transmission. Transmission charges may be rolled into other charges even in a deregulated market, but if they are billed separately, they will appear as line item charge on a customer's invoice, and will be paid as part of the total electrical bill. Transmission rates differ across TDSPs.
Watt: The electrical unit of power, the rate of energy transfer equivalent to 1 ampere flowing under a pressure of 1 volt at unity power factor.
Watthour (Wh): An electrical energy unit of measure equal to 1 watt of power supplied to, or taken from, an electric circuit steadily for 1 hour.
Weather Zone: A geographic region in which climatological characteristics are similar for all areas within such region.
