Glossary of Terms

Common Electrical Terms

Electricity is commonly measured by its:

• Strength or force as it moves through electric wiring (measured in volts)
• Current or flow (measured in amperes)

Amperes
An amp is a unit that measures the strength/rate of flow of electrical current. The term Amperes refers to the amount of electric flow or current that is transmitted through electric wiring or devices. The higher the amperage rating, the greater the amount of electric flow or current that is being conducted through a wire or device. For example, an electric current of 20 amps is much greater than 5 amps.

Kilowatts
Like watts, kilowatts refer to the amount of power used by an electrical device. Because the term kilo is an abbreviation for one thousand, a kilowatt is another way of saying 1,000 watts. The abbreviation for kilowatt is kW. In more practical terms, when ten 100-watt light bulbs are turned on at the same time, they use 1,000 watts of electric power (10 bulbs x 100 watts = 1,000 watts).

Kilowatt-hour
If ten 100-watt light bulbs stay on for one hour, they will use one kilowatt-hour. If they were allowed to stay on for two hours, this would be two kilowatt-hours, and so on. Kilowatt-hour is the term used to measure and bill the amount of electric energy used.

Voltage
While the term volt is a measurement unit electrical pressure, voltage refers to the strength or force from an electric power source. The higher the voltage rating of a source, the greater the amount of electric power that comes from it. Some common examples of voltage include a small battery (9 volts), a car battery (12 volts) or the electric power that comes into your home (120 or 240 volts). Of course, the strength or power of the electric source from the car battery is much stronger than that from the 9-volt battery. Similarly, the power of the electric source from an electrical outlet is much stronger than that from a car battery.

Wattage
A watt is an electrical unit of power. This term is commonly used to rate appliances using relatively small amounts of electricity. Wattage is stamped on light bulbs and all appliances. Wattage = Amps x Voltage. View our reference guide to determine the average wattage of some commonly used appliances.

Common Natural Gas Terms

Biogas
Gas derived from the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter.

Ccf or CCF
100 cubic feet of gas

City Gate
The point at which natural gas enters the local distribution system.

Customer Service Charge
A portion of the customer's monthly bill that covers MichCon's cost for meter reading, billing,gas leak emergencies and telephone service. This charge remains on the bill whether a customer elects to choose another gas provider or not.

Delivery Charge
A portion of the customer's monthly bill that covers MichCon's cost for delivering natural gas to a business/residence. It includes pipeline maintenance and storage. This charge remains on the bill whether a customer elects to choose another gas provider or not.

Flared
The burning of natural gas at the well head.

Gas Cost Recovery (GCR)
Regulated by the Michigan Public Service Commission, GCR allows MichCon to recover the cost it pays for gas for its regulated customers. Under the system, MichCon does not make a profit on the sale of gas.  There is no mark-up; the cost of gas is a direct pass-through to customers. Also, the rate actually charged customers might be less than the authorized maximum rate.

Hydrocarbon
A family of compounds containing the elements carbon and hydrogen.

Landfill Gas
A byproduct of solid waste decomposition. The gas is composed of approximately equal proportions of methane and carbon dioxide.

Kerogen
A hydrocarbon that is the chief constituent of oil shale.

Mercaptan
An odorant added to natural gas for safety detection purposes.

Mcf or MCF
1,000 cubic feet of gas

Natural Gas
A mixture of hydrocarbon gases and vapors occurring naturally in certain geologic formations. The chief gas is methane.

Nomination
Volume of gas to be delivered to a distributor by customer or agent.

Peak demand
The maximum amount of energy (natural gas, etc.) delivered during a stated period of time.

Porosity
The ratio of the volume of space to the volume of solid rock in a formation indicating how much oil, natural gas, or water the formation can hold.

Reservoir
A subsurface, porous, permeable rock formation in which oil and/or natural gas has accumulated.

Source rock
A rock from which oil or natural gas is generated from organic materials.

Unconventional natural gas
Natural gas derived from sources other than conventional petroleum formation.