capito Bodensee wrote the easy to understand text.
11 December 2017

Glossary

Bundes-Netz-Agentur

Bundes-Netz-Agentur means federal network agency in German. An agency is a type of organisation.
A network connects things.
The Bundes-Netz-Agentur looks after different networks.

• Electricity
• Gas
• Telecommunications
  Tele communications means telephones, fax, internet and radio.
• Post
• Rail

The Bundes-Netz-Agentur controls these areas.
That is important.
It means there is fair competition.

Renewable energy

There are many ways to make energy.
Electricity comes from energy.

Some energy comes from the sun, wind or water.
This type of energy is called renewable energy.

Graph

A graph is a type of picture.
Graphs are pictures that show information.
A graph can show how much electricity is used. A graph can show how much people in a country pay for electricity.

There are different types of graphs.
Some graphs have bars. Some graphs have lines.

Non-renewable energy

Non-renewable energy comes from underground.
When it is used up, it does not grow back.
Some electricity comes from this type of energy.

Types of non-renewable energy are:

• oil
• natural gas
• coal

Control area          

People working with electricity sometimes talk about control areas.
A control area is a special region.
Germany has 4 control areas.

Each control area has 1 electricity network operator.

• there is always enough electricity,
• enough electricity is used,
• the electricity lines are not overloaded.

Electricity trading

Electricity trading is the sale of electricity.
Electricity producers sell electricity

• to electricity suppliers,
• to electricity traders, who sell it on to people at home,
• to major electricity consumers,
  such as big companies.

Electricity market

Everyone who has something to do with electricity is part of the electricity market.
The electricity market includes:

• companies that lay electricity lines and check them,
• electricity producers – power stations that make electricity,
• consumers
• electricity traders, who sell electricity on to individual households.

Electricity network

The electricity network is all the power lines that supply electricity to each building.

Consumers

Consumers are people who use or buy something.
Consumers can also be companies that use or buy something.

Competition

Competition in the economy means there is more than 1 company doing the same thing. 

For example:
2 electricity providers compete for customers. 
Each electricity provider wants customers to buy electricity from them. 
Each provider tries to sell its electricity more cheaply than the other provider. 
They both try to provide the best service. 
Customers can choose where they buy electricity from.
This is called competition.

Competition between companies is good for customers. 
Competition makes the prices of products fair. 
Companies make their products better because they all want to sell their own products.