Electric potential energy

Electric potential energy is a type of energy that is stored in an object because of its position. Imagine a ball sitting on top of a hill – it has potential energy because of how high up it is. If you were to roll the ball down the hill it would start to move and the potential energy would be converted over to kinetic energy. This is like electricity, it has the energy stored in it but needs to be used or “released” in order for it to do something.