1. A Brief History of Electrification: The Early Years
1750 Benjamin Franklin tests his theory that lightning is electricity by diverting lightning into Leyden jars using a lightning rod.
1752 Franklin performs his famous kite experiment.
1753 Georg Richman, a Swede living in St. Petersburg, attempts to replicate Franklin’s experiments with lightning. He partially succeeded, sadly becoming the first person to die of an electrical experiment.

2. A Brief History of Electrification: The Early Years
1800 Alessandro Volta of Pavia develops the first “voltaic battery.”
1807 Sir Humphrey Davy improved and expanded on Volta’s design, and developed the first arc light to run off of his battery.
1820 Hans Christian Oersted of the University of Copenhagen discovers electromagnetism. André-Marie Ampère of Paris then proved that the magnetic field intensified with an increase in electric current.
Right: model of a voltaic battery.

3. Electricity 101: Expanding Your Utility Vocabulary
Wholesale
Retail
Resale or wholesale sales are electricity sold (except under exchange agreements) to other electric utilities or to public authorities for resale distribution.
Sales of electric energy to ultimate customers. (Your personal electric bill is an example of retail electric sales.)

4. A Brief History of Electrification: Industry Formation
1831 Michael Faraday discovers that a changing magnetic field generates electricity.
New Year’s Eve, 1879 Thomas Edison holds a public display of his model electric system and light bulbs in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
September, 1882 Edison Electric Light Company formally launches the world’s first working DC electric system from Pearl Street Station, Manhattan, New York.
In that same year Nikolai Tesla first conceived the polyphasic AC generator.
Right: Thomas Alva Edison

5. Federal Regulation: Timeline of Major U.S. Electric Laws
1932 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is chartered by Congress.
1935 Federal Power Act (FPA) and the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) are enacted
1937 Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) created by act of Congress.
1978 Public Utility Regulation Act (PURPA) passed as part of National Energy Act.
1987 Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act is largely repealed.
Deregulation Begins:
Energy Policy Act of 1992
Energy Policy Act of 2005
Left: FDR signs TVA legislation.

6. Federal Regulation: FERC’s Regulatory Role
FERC’s Regulatory Authority
Wholesale power and natural gas sales
Electric transmission and gas transportation
Electricity mergers and corporate transactions
Regional power market rules
Natural gas pipeline, storage, and LNG siting
Grid reliability standards
Police market manipulation
Limited authority to site electric transmission
Limited authority to set resource adequacy requirements

7. Electricity 101: Expanding Your Utility Vocabulary
Municipally-owned electric system (Muni) Cooperative, Rural electric (Coop)
An electric utility system owned and operated by a city, county, irrigation district, drainage district, or a political subdivision or agency of a State competent under the laws thereof to carry on the business of developing, transmitting, or distributing power usually, but not always, providing service within the boundaries of the municipality.
An electric utility legally established to be owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its service. The utility company will generate, transmit, and/or distribute supplies of electric energy to a specified area not being serviced by another utility. Such ventures are generally exempt from Federal income tax laws. Most electric cooperatives have been initially financed by the Rural Utilities Service (prior Rural Electrification Administration), U.S. Department of Agriculture.

8. Electricity 101: Expanding Your Utility Vocabulary
Heat Rate Nameplate Rating
A measure of generating station thermal efficiency, generally expressed in Btu per net kilowatt-hour. It is computed by dividing the total Btu content of fuel burned for electric generation by the resulting net kilowatt-hour generation.
The nameplate rating of a steam electric turbine-generator set is the guaranteed continuous output in kilowatts or kVA and power factor at generator terminals when the turbine is clean and operating under specified throttle steam pressure and temperature, specified reheat temperature, specified exhaust pressure, and with full extraction from all extraction openings.