We invoice most General Service and Industrial customers for power (demand) and energy (consumption) as two separate components. Demand charges are intended to recover the cost of facilities (such as power transformers, wires and power plants) available to provide the maximum amount of electricity which customer may require at any time.

Here's a quick comparison:

 

   Premise 1                                                      Premise 2

Consider two premises:

Premise #1 has a total load of 100 kilowatts for 1 hour and consumed 100 kilowatt-hours. Premise #2 had a total load of 10 kilowatts for 10 hours and consumed 100 kilowatt-hours. Both premises had used the same amount of kilowatt-hours however NB Power must provide capacity of 100kw for premise #1 while premise #2 only needed 10kw of capacity.

WHAT IS VOLTAGE?

Voltage is the difference in electrical potential between two points. It is expressed in volts (V) . (Note: The term potential also means voltage)

WHAT IS CURRENT?

Current is the quantity of electrons flowing through a wire in one second. It is expressed in amperes (A) and is a function of voltage in volts (V) and resistance in ohms.

WHAT IS POWER?

Power is the rate at which the electricity is consumed. It is expressed in watts (W) or kilowatts (1 KW = 1000 W).

The maximum power recorded during a certain period of time is called demand. It is measured in “KW” (Active Power) and /or “KVA” (Apparent Power).  NB Power uses 15-minute intervals for billing demand.

WHAT IS ENERGY?

Energy is the product of power supplied, multiplied by the length of time it is used. It is measured in kilowatt-hours (KWh).