Open access allowing electricity buyers and sellers to use transmission lines that belong to neither. Outage the period during which a power plant or transmission line is out of service. Also the time during which a consumer is not served with power because of an equipment failure. Peak load the maximum demand for electricity during a particular period of time. Pooling the coordination of energy supply by two or more utilities to more economically meet their combined load .
Power marketer a nongenerating company that buys and sells power.
Publicly owned utility a nonprofit utility, such as a municipal utility , operated by a government corporation. Public utility an investor-owned utility company that operates in a regulated, monopolistic market rather than a competitive market. Public utility commission a state regulatory commission set up to oversee public utilities . Public utility district a government corporation established by voters to provide electricity to consumers within the district. Rate pancaking multiple access charges incurred when wheeling electricity across multiple transmission systems.