The New Yorker magazine published an article by John Lanchester in the August 4, 2014 issue called Money Talks: Learning the language of finance. Lanchester writes about how inscrutable (and, in fact, misleading) financial language can be. He describes the frustrating experience in which the people who know the language have the power. He draws a parallel between the priests of Ancient Egypt (who had control of all the tools and the language that dictated how the largely agricultural society would fare in a given season) and therefore held all the power, and the financial elite of today.

Lanchester goes on to make a compelling case about the importance (to consumers) of becoming well-versed in financial lingo and jargon– really understanding it, questioning it and owning the outcomes that result. If we can’t speak the language, we can not insist on better results– we can’t be informed consumers of financial products. Lanchester writes:

shared language doesn’t necessarily imply a shared viewpoint; what it does is make a certain kind of conversation possible….The language of money is a powerful tool, and it is also a tool of power. Incomprehension is a form of consent. If we allow ourselves not to understand this language, we are signing off on the way the world works today—

All the same is true of energy. For more than 15 years, business and residential consumers have been more or less in the dark. Ask even the most sophisticated buyer of energy, and off the record they will often admit that they don’t entirely understand the language of energy nor are they entirely comfortable with the decisions that they’ve made as a result. There are plenty of energy terms and phrases that just don’t make sense to consumers. Some of them are also found in the general language of finance: hedge, risk, upside/downside, fixed, index– and then, to add insult to injury, consumers are overwhelmed by technical discussions of capacity, ancillaries, power.. it goes on and on.

There is no reason to accept this approach to energy management and purchasing. Yes, there is complexity to energy markets– all markets are complex. But there’s no reason every one who makes an energy decision shouldn’t have a plain language, straight forward understanding of options. There is no technical reason for these decisions to be so incrutable and challenging. Take a look at our Resources page for definitions of most energy terminology and/or for access to plain language white papers. Let us know if any of this information is confusing. We will fix it and/or explain it to you. We, too, get swept up in market jargon. The difference is that we want to make it easier and more straight forward for energy consumers, and our success will be measured by how well we communicate clearly and transparently. We do not benefit from keeping information and lingo mysterious.

Bottomline for businesses: Take charge. Spend a few minutes. Contact us if you need to– but get literate about energy, especially if you’re making businesses decisions on this topic. It is essential to making good energy decisions and will save you money and time in the long run.