Learning Center

elasticity of demand: The degree to which consumer demand for a product responds to changes in price, availability or other factors.

electric and magnetic fields (EMF): Invisible force fields that surround the movement of electricity. Everything electrical produces EMF.

embedded cost: The fixed cost of all facilities in the power supply system, including generating plants, substations and distribution lines.

energy: Average power production over a stated interval of time, expressed in kilowatt-hours, megawatt-hours, average kilowatts or average megawatts.

energy content curve: A seasonal guide to the use of storage water from reservoirs operated by parties to the Pacific Northwest Coordination Agreement. The curve charts reservoir levels and is designed primarily to assure that the first increment of water above that required for meeting firm load is used to refill the reservoir with 95 percent confidence by the end of July. The curve defines rights, entitlements, operations and limitations that the reservoir owner and downstream projects have for the use of storage water under the Coordination Agreement.

environmental externalities: An 'externality' exists when one party's activities affect the life or activities of the other parties in ways that are not factored into the production and pricing decisions of the first party. Such impacts may be positive or negative. With respect to utility activities, if costs are imposed on society that are not counted in electricity resource selection and operation decisions, two effects can be expected: (1) certain resources may be selected to meet incremental capacity requirements over alternatives that have higher 'direct' costs, but whose external costs are so low that these alternatives, if selected, would impose lower total costs on society; and (2) the product (electricity) will be underpriced, so that, from an economic perspective, too much will be consumed. In sum, these two effects will result in inefficient utilization of society's resources -- as well as the imposition of costs, without compensation, on parties who have little or no say in the polluting firm's decisions.

exempt wholesale generator (EWG): A class of generators defined by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 that includes the owners and/or operators of facilities used to generate electricity exclusively for wholesale or that are leased to utilities.

Federal Base System (FBS): The system defined by the Northwest Power Act to be:

• the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) hydroelectric projects;
• resources acquired by BPA under long-term contracts in force on the date of the Act; and
• resources acquired by BPA to replace reductions in capability of FCRPS resources and contracted resources.

Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS): The FCRPS is made up of:

• the hydroelectric generating projects constructed by the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation in the Northwest;
• the power BPA has acquired through net billing and exchanges; and
• the electric transmission system constructed and operated by BPA.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): A federal agency responsible for regulating key activities of the nation's natural gas utilities, electric utilities, natural gas pipeline transportation utilities and hydroelectric power producers.

firm energy load carrying capability (FELCC): The amount of firm energy that can be produced from a hydroelectric power system based on that system's lowest recorded sequence of streamflows and the maximum amount of reservoir storage currently available to the system.

firm power: Electric power that is guaranteed by the supplier to be available during specified times except when uncontrollable forces produce outages. Firm power consists of either firm energy, firm capacity or both.

fish cap: A memorandum of agreement (MOA) entered into by BPA, the Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service concerning BPA's financial commitment for Columbia Basin fish and wildlife costs. The MOA states that BPA's fish and wildlife costs will be limited to an average of $435 million per year for the fiscal years 1996 to 2001.

fish ladder: A device made up of a series of pools similar to a staircase that enables fish to migrate upriver past dams.

fish passage facilities: Features of a dam that enable fish to move past the dam without harm. Generally these are an upstream fish ladder or a downstream bypass system.

fixed cost: Costs of generation projects incurred regardless of the amount of energy produced. Such costs normally include capital costs, the cost of financing construction (in the form of interest) and insurance.

flow: The volume of water passing a given point per unit of time.

flow augmentation: Water from a storage reservoir added to enhance flow, particularly to aid fish migration.

forced outage: An unforeseen outage that results from emergency conditions.

forced outage reserves: An amount of peak generating capability planned to be available to serve peak loads during forced outages.

forecasting: The process of estimating or calculating electricity load or resource production at some point in the future.

fuel switching: Substituting one fuel for another based on price and availability. Large industries often have the capability of using either oil or natural gas to fuel their operation and of making the switch on short notice.

full requirements customers: Utilities that generate no power, relying instead on BPA for all of the power needed to meet their total load requirements.