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English Vocabulary for SE enterviews

Cooperativism

  • cooperative member: socio de la cooperativa
  • hacerse socio: become a member
  • non-profit: sin animo de lucro
  • governing board/council: consejo rector
  • assembly: asamblea [esen'bli]
  • growth: crecimiento
  • has grown: ha crecido
  • local group: grupos locales
  • distributed across the country: [destri'biuted acroos da cauntri]

Economy

  • surplus: excedentes
  • fair fares: tarifas justas [fer fers]
  • shareholders: accionistas (de las grandes)
  • profits: beneficios
  • afordable: assequible [afor'dabol]
  • amortized: [amoor'taized]
  • funding: financiaci贸n
  • comercial: anuncio
  • advertising:: publicidad
  • auction: subasta [oxion]
  • bid: pujar
  • privatize: [prai'vatais]
  • privatization: [prai'vatais eixon]
  • viability: [baiabil路liti]
  • undermining: entorpecer, torpedear

Energy

  • renewable: [riniu'abol]
  • self-production: auto-producci贸n
  • major companies: grandes empresas
  • contract holder: titular del contrato
  • contract payer: pagador del contrato
  • contract sponsor: socio asociado al contrato
  • sponsor: afadrinar (un contracte d'un tercer)
  • use: consumo/consumir
  • kilowatt hour: [ki'lovatag眉er]
  • bounties: primas (a las renovables)
  • they have obstructed: han puesto trabas
  • pannels: placas (fotovoltaicas)
  • roof: cubiertas/tejados
  • operating margins: margen operativo
  • meter: contador [mi'te]
  • developing renewable projects: [dive'loping reniu'abal pra'jects]
  • to develop renewable projects: [tu dive'lop reniu'abal pra'jects]
  • presa: dam [dAm]
  • hydropower plant: Planta hydroelectrica
  • nuclear power plant: Planta nuclear [niu'clear pa'guer plant]

Politics

  • politicians: politicos
  • revolving doors: puertas giratorias [rivol'vin dors]
  • advisor: consejero (Gonzalez, Aznar...) [edvai'sar]
  • high profile executives: ejecutivos de alto nivel
  • salary: salarios
  • bill: ley borrador en proceso de ser aprobada
  • law: ley aprobada
  • drawer: cajon [droue]
  • draft: borrador
  • pass: aprobar (una ley (bill))
  • reject: rechazar (una ley)
  • decline: rechazar (una peticion)
  • appeal: apelar
  • European union: Union Europea [yu'ro pi'an yu'nion]

Business administration

Invoicing and payments

  • factura: invoice
  • factura ordinaria: regular invoice
  • factura abonadora: cancellation invoice
  • factura rectificadora: correction invoice
  • factura emitida: emitted invoice
  • factura anulada: void invoice
  • factura en borrador: draft invoice
  • factura pagada: paid invoice (not payed, please!)
  • factura impagada: unpaid invoice
  • emitir facturas: to emit invoices
  • pago domiciliado: (SEPA) direct debit payment
    • domiciliar el pago: to
  • pago al contado: cash payment
    • pargar al contado: to pay in cash
  • pago con targeta: credit/debit card payment
    • pagar con targeta: to pay using a credit card
  • morosa: slow payer
  • pago retrasado: late payment

Services

  • persona socia: member
  • ser persona socia: membership
  • contract: contracto
  • service: servicio
  • alta: registration, signup (joined when a sustative)
  • darse de alta: to register, to sign up (separated when a verb)
  • baja: termination, cancellation
  • baja como persona socia: membership cancellation
  • baja de contrato: contract cancelation
  • darse de baja: to cancel, to terminate
  • dar de baja el contrato: to terminate the contract, to cancel the contract
  • dar de baja como persona socia: to cancel the membership
  • hacerse socia/darse de alta como socia: become a member, signup as a member, register as a member
  • dar de alta el servicio: sign up for the service, register for the service
  • dar de alta el contrato: sign up the contracta

Investments and contributions

  • inversi贸n: investment
  • invertir: to invest
  • aportaci贸n: contribution
  • aportar: to contribute

Formulas:

  • SomEnergia is a cooperative
    • that joins together
    • more than 20 thousands
    • electricity users,
  • who want to make our own choices
    • on topic we have no choice as plain consumers.

  • With the final goal

    • of changing the market to one that is more friendly to users
    • and to reduce the environmental impact of the sector.

  • For instance, by becoming our own comercializers we can choose:

    • Buying 100% renewable energy
    • Adjusting prices to the real costs, or
    • Reinvesting the surplus into new renewable projects
  • Still many of the sector regulation go against any alternative to the existing players and tecnologies

  • But so far, we are in our fourth year and growing steady

    • we are now more than 20k members, and
    • we manage more than 25k contracts,

  • At the time SomEnergia was founded,

    • some retailers, also offered renewable products
    • not 100% but sure more expensive than the regular fare
    • like many "organic" products
  • That has no sense at all,
    • since renewable sources are cheaper than dirty ones
  • In fact, we are now offering lower fares than most dirty energy producers
    • That's the other choice I said we can make
    • Being a small one, some processes are more expensive for us
    • But
      • We are non-profit
      • so we don't have to pay revenues to shareholders
      • We don't pay high salaries for high profile executives
      • We have no politicians to hire as advisors in exchange of favors
      • All our marketing strength comes from volunteers attending fairs and giving talks
    • So members choose to cover the costs
      • and to set stable fares that adapt as costs evolve
      • No big loses, no big gains.
  • We also choose
    • to reinvest the small gains we get
    • into our own production projects
  • Our initial intent was covering most of our use with our own plants
  • But we are steady at the 10%
  • Mostly because we are growing in contracts beyond any expectation
  • But also because
    • regulation changes and bill proposals
    • are undermining the expansion of renewable sources
    • and most projects have been expectating
  • Here we choosed not to be expecting anymore
    • and find new formulas we can develop new projects.

How complicated is to build such a cooperative?

  • Spanish electricity market is really a hard market
  • Moreover if you are starting small
  • Major companies have dictated most of the bills related to the sector
  • Most of them agains the users' interest
  • Politicians that approved such bills got nice jobs in the sector afterwards

Aren't members setting undercost fares?

  • We are the users
  • We also own the cooperative
  • It is our tool to change the market
  • To save the environment
  • By undermining the viability of the cooperative
    • we would loose that tool
  • We'll choose to minimize fares
  • We'll be very cautious to cover the costs we have