V

Value of Service: A monetary measure of the usefulness or necessity of utility service to a customer group.

VCO – Voice Carry-Over: A reduced form of Telecommunications Relay Service where the person with the hearing disability speaks directly to the other end user. TRS is a national and international program that provides functional equivalency of access to public switched telecommunications network services by persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled.

VDT – Video Display Terminal: A computer screen.

Vertical Integration: An arrangement whereby the same company owns all the different aspects of making, selling, and delivering a product or service. In the electric industry, it refers to the historically common arrangement whereby a utility would own its own generating plants, transmission system, and distribution lines to provide all aspects of electric service.

VOIP – Voice Over Internet Protocol: Voice delivered using the Internet Protocol is a term used for a set of facilities for managing the delivery of voice information using the Internet Protocol (IP). In general, this means sending voice information in digital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditional circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Voltage: A measure of electric potential, which is the condition that causes electric energy to flow. Voltage has the following characteristics: a push or force, does nothing by itself, has the potential to do work, appears between two points, and is always there.

Voltage Reduction: Any intentional reduction of system voltage by 3 percent or greater for reasons of maintaining the continuity of service of the bulk electric power supply system.