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Re: AC electricity in CA



Leigh Palmer wrote:

. What is being called "power" is not
power in the technical sense. Electric utilities sell energy as a physicist
knows because it is reckoned (correctly, if not SI) in kilowatt hours.

I disagree. Electric utilities sell both energy and power. Most consumers of
electrical service do not have storage devices on hand. Therefore they demand
the use of a certain amount of energy during a specific period of time. I would
not be very happy if when I decided to turn on the electric heater keeping my
toes warm Illinois Power sent a message saying... "I know you wanted to keep
both feet warm for an hour but how about if we just keep one foot warm for two
hours?" That intangible stuff power is just as much a part of the product that
electric companies sell as is that intangible stuff energy.

--

Cliff Parker

Never express yourself more clearly than you can think. -- Niels Bohr