6.1 INTRODUCTION The sole purpose of the electricity industry is to serve those who use electricity—our customers. What is a Customer? To reflect our sole purpose, we refer specifically to “customers.” Electricity customers are individuals or organizations that pay the bill, while electricity consumers include anyone that uses electricity. At times, these terms are used interchangeably. For an electricity service provider, the term “customer” reflects a modern customer-centric perspective, versus the former term of “rate payer,” which reflected a now outdated utility-centric perspective. Within utilities, customers are generally classified in categories such as residential, commercial, industrial, and large users, among others.
Reference Documents To facilitate your understanding of terminology used in this course, please download the glossary of electrical terms. If you are not using a mouse or touchscreen to navigate the course, please download the keyboard navigation instructions.
Customer Interaction A customer calls up their local electricity utility to ask a question about their billing. When this routine interaction has concluded, the customer proceeds to ask some questions about the environmental impact of the utility: Does the utility use coal generation, solar and wind power, or nuclear generation? What is the utility doing to curb their carbon emissions? How should the customer service representative respond? Tell the customer the truth—that their utility is making every effort to be environmentally responsible in the provision of electricity, and this includes the use of a responsible mix of generation. The mix includes renewable sources such as solar and wind, but the electricity supply may also include other sources such as nuclear and hydroelectric generation along with coal and gas in order to provide a baseline of service.
Electricity Canada | Electricity Fundamental in Canada: Student Handbook
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