Here you can find all kinds of interesting information about electricity.
Energy Terms and Definitions
Alternative Retail Electric Supplier (ARES) - An entity, other than an Illinois jurisdictional utility, which sells electricity to retail electric customers in Illinois. The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) must certify ARESs.
Cogeneration - Production of heat energy and electrical or mechanical power from the same fuel in the same facility.
Demand - The level at which electricity is delivered to users at a given point in time. Electric demand is measured in kilowatts.
Department of Energy (DOE) - A federal agency that manages the programs of research, development, and commercialization of various energy technologies and associated environmental, regulatory, and defense programs. The DOE promulgates energy policies and acts as a principal advisor to the President of the United States on energy matters.
Distribution - The process of transforming high-voltage electricity to lower voltages and then physically delivering it to the electricity users.
Distribution System - The substations, wires, and lines that convey electricity from high-powered transmission lines to ultimate consumers.
Electricity - A property of the basic parts of matter. A form of energy having magnetic, radiant, and chemical effects. A current of electricity is increased by an increase in the charged particles.
Energy - The capability of doing work. The resources that make a technology operational. The term "energy" is also used to mean electricity supplied over time. It is expressed in kilowatt-hours.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - A federal agency established under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 to undertake all administrative and regulatory functions related to the prevention, control, and abatement of air pollution.
Fossil Fuel - Oil, coal, or natural gas. Fuel that was formed in the earth in prehistoric times from remains of living organisms.
Grid - The electric transmission and distribution system that links power plants to customers.
Interchange - The agreement among interconnected utilities under which they buy, sell, and exchange power among themselves. This can provide for economy and emergency power supplies.
Kilowatt Hour - A kilowatt hour measures the quantity of electricity generated or consumed in one hour.
Load Management - Steps taken to reduce power demand at peak load times or to shift some of the load to off-peak times.
Lumens/Watts - A measure of the efficiency of a light bulb. The number of lumens output per watt of power input.
Megawatt - A unit of electric power equal to one million watts or 1,000 kilowatts.
Nuclear Energy - Power obtained by splitting heavy atoms (fission) or joining light atoms (fusion). A nuclear power plant uses a controlled atomic chain reaction to produce heat. The heat is used to make steam to run conventional turbine generators.
Peak Load - The highest electrical demand within a particular period of time.
Transmission - The process of conducting the flow of electricity at high voltages from the points of generation to the locations of groups of electricity users.
Turbine Generator - A device that uses steam, heated gases, water flow, or wind to cause a spinning motion that activates electromagnetic forces and generates electricity.
Wholesale Competition - A system in which a distributor of electricity has the option to buy bulk power from a variety of power producers and bale to compete to sell electricity to a variety of distribution utilities.
Questions and Answers for Your Most Frequently Asked Questions
What is a kilowatt-hour?
A kilowatt-hour (kWh) consists of watts (the power you use) and time (how long you use it). Put another way, it's a measure of the work electricity does for you. Your electric meter keeps track of it all for you.
The number of kilowatt-hours your appliances use depends on how many watts they need to run and how long you use them.
Watts and time are equally important. If you use a big appliance--like a vacuum cleaner--for a short time, it adds only a few pennies to your electric bill. A small appliance--like a light--used all month, can add more than $5. If an appliance makes heat or does heavy labor (heating elements or big motors), it uses a lot of watts.
One kilowatt-hour will:
- Run a digital clock for nearly three weeks.
- Make 20 batches of microwave popcorn.
- Wash one load of clothes (big motor).
- Blow dry your hair 12 times (heating element and small motor).
- Vacuum carpets for about an hour (big motor).
- How much electricity do we use?
Electric use varies from household to household, depending upon the size of your home, number and type of appliances and how you use them. On average, a single-family home in northern Illinois uses 688 kWh per month, while an apartment consumes 321 kWh. Of course these numbers can vary significantly when considering an individual residence. In fact, some households use as much as 6,600 kWh or as little as 20 kWh per month.
Why does my bill go up and down throughout the year?
Your household electricity use fits three categories:
- Base load--what you plug in and forget about (refrigerator, aquarium heater, cordless appliance rechargers, etc.).
- Discretionary load--what you switch on and off (lights, dishwasher, power tools, etc.).
- Seasonal load--what is dependent on the weather but controlled by settings you choose (furnace, air conditioner, dehumidifier, etc.).
So where do all those kilowatt-hours come from?
Big users certainly add to your monthly electricity costs, but you'd be surprised at how much is due to hundreds of little uses. For example, how often do you make toast or brew a pot of coffee? How many loads of laundry do you do every week? If you have children, you know how hard it is to get them to turn off lights. How often do you use the garage door opener, the shop vac or the computer? And that's not even taking into account what happens to costs when poor insulation, weatherstripping or caulking makes your heating/cooling system work overtime.
For more information about how you can save energy and money visit our Energy Efficiency section .