A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

DD&A - Abbreviation for depreciation, depletion and amortization.

Deferred Taxes - Taxes accrued and reflected as an expense in a company's income statement, but not payable to the taxing authority in that time period. These taxes are accrued to compensate for an understatement of income tax expense that would occur if only the tax currently due to the taxing authority was reflected as the total income tax expense.

Degree-Day - Unit used in estimating consumption of fuel and estimating annual building load requirements. The unit is based on difference in temperature over time.

Demand - The rate at which energy is delivered to loads and scheduling locations by generation, transmission, or distribution facilities. For utility, it is level at which electricity or gas is delivered to users at a point in time.

Demand Side Management - Utility-sponsored programs to influence the time of use and amount of energy use by select customers.

Depletion - A term for either (1) a periodic assignment to expense of recorded amounts or (2) an allowable income tax deduction that is related to the exhaustion of mineral reserves. Depletion is included as one of the elements of amortization. When used in that manner, depletion refers only to book depletion (see definition for Amortization). Book. The portion of the carrying value (other than the portion associated with tangible assets) prorated in each accounting period, for financial reporting purposes, to the extracted portion of an economic interest in a wasting natural resource. Tax-cost. A deduction (allowance) under U.S. Federal Income taxation. Normally calculated under a specified formula whereby the adjusted basis of the mineral property is multiplied by a fraction. The numerator is the number of units of minerals sold during the tax year) and the denominator is the estimated number of units of 'un-extracted' minerals remaining at the end of the tax year plus the number of units of minerals sold during the tax-year. Tax- percentage (or Statutory). A deduction (allowance) allowed to certain mineral producers under U.S. Federal income taxation. It's calculated on the basis of a specified percentage of gross revenue from the sale of minerals from each mineral property not to exceed the lesser of 50 percent of the taxable income from the property computed without allowance for depletion. (There are also other limits on percentage depletion on oil and gas production.) The taxpayer is entitled to a deduction encompassing either the tax-cost depletion amount or the percentage of (statutory) depletion; whichever is greater. Excess Statutory Depletion. The excess of estimated statutory depletion allowable as an income tax deduction over the amount of cost depletion otherwise allowable as a tax deduction, determined on a total enterprise basis.

Depreciation - See definition for Amortization.

Development - The preparation of a specific mineral deposit for commercial production; this preparation includes construction of access to the deposit and of facilities to extract the minerals. The development process is sometimes further distinguished between a pre-production stage and a current stage, with the distinction being made on the basis of whether the development work is performed before or after production from the mineral deposit has commenced on a commercial scale.

Development Costs - Costs incurred to obtain access to proved reserves and to provide facilities for extracting, treating, gathering, and storing the oil and gas. More specifically, development costs, and also depreciation and applicable operating costs of support equipment and facilities and other costs of development activities, are costs incurred to: Gain access to and prepare well locations for drilling, including surveying well locations for the purpose of determining specific development drilling sites, clearing ground, draining, road building, and relocating public roads, gas lines, and power lines, to the extent necessary in developing the proved reserves; Drill and equip development wells, development-type stratigraphic test wells, and service wells, including the costs of platforms and of well equipment such as casing, tubing, pumping equipment, and the wellhead assembly; Acquire, construct, and install production facilities such as lease flow lines, separators, treaters, heaters, manifolds, measuring devices, and production storage tanks, natural gas cycling and processing plants, and utility waste disposal systems; and Provide improved recovery systems.

Direct Access - Ability of a retail electricity customer to purchase commodity directly from the wholesale market rather than through a local distribution company (LDC).

Disaggregation - Functional separation of the 'vertically-integrated' utility into smaller, individually owned business units (i.e., generation, transmission, and distribution). Refer to divestiture.

Distillate - A general classification for one of the petroleum fractions produced in conventional distillation operations. Included are kerosene and products known as heating oils and diesel fuels, specifically No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 Fuel Oils and No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 Diesel Fuels.

Distributed Generation - This type of system involves small amounts of generation located on the utility's distribution system for the purpose of meeting substation level (local) peak loads and/or eliminating the need to upgrade local distribution lines.

Distribution - Delivery of electricity to retail customer (home or business) through low- voltage distribution lines.

Distribution System - Electric Grid. Substations, transformers, and lines that convey electricity from high-power transmission lines to the end-user customer.

Distribution Utility/Company - (Disco). Regulated utility that constructs and maintains the distribution wires connecting the transmission grid to the end-user customer. At times, discos perform other services such as: customer aggregation, purchasing power supply, transmission services, billing, reimbursing suppliers and offering other regulated or non-regulated energy services to retail customers.

Divestiture - Removal of utility functions from one another by selling-off or in some other way changing the ownership of the related assets. For example, this is most commonly associated with generation assets that are 'spun-off,' so these assets are no longer associated with the shareholders that own the transmission and distribution (T&D) assets.

Domestic Operations - Domestic operations are those operations located in the United States. The U.S. is defined as the 50 states, including their offshore territorial waters, the District of Columbia, U.S. commonwealth territories, and protectorates.

Drilling - The act of boring a hole (1) to determine whether minerals are present in commercially recoverable quantities and (2) to accomplish production of the minerals (including drilling to inject fluids). Exploratory. Drilling to locate probable mineral deposits or to establish the nature of geological structures; such wells may not be capable of production if minerals are discovered.

Developmental Drilling - to delineate the boundaries of a known mineral deposit to enhance the productive capacity of the producing mineral property.

Directional Drilling - that is deliberately made to depart significantly from the vertical.

Drilling and Equipping of Wells - The drilling and equipping of wells through completion of the 'christmas tree'.

Dry- Hole Charge - The charge-off to expense of a previously capitalized cost upon the conclusion of an unsuccessful drilling effort.

DSM - Demand side management is a method used to manage energy demand including energy efficiency, load management, alternate fuels, and load build.