Why do people say that 'power flows' into or out of a component in an electric circuit? Currently, I am learning about electric circuits, and how to apply the basic concepts of physics, like work and energy. But I keep running into the same phrase--on Wikipedia, my textbooks, everywhere--
Wikipedia: Electric Power

electric power can flow either into or out of a component

This doesn't make any sense to me. Power is supposed to be defined as the time rate of change of work, so how can it 'flow' anywhere, its a rate. It makes sense to say that energy 'flows' places, since that's a quantity, but why would you say that the rate at which energy is transferred, i.e. power, flows somewhere?
 A: You're not the first, nor the last, to find the phrase "power flow" somehow wrong.  For example, from W J Beaty's article on electrical misconceptions:

ELECTRIC POWER FLOWS FROM GENERATOR TO CONSUMER? Wrong. Electric power
  cannot be made to flow. Power is defined as "flow of energy." Saying
  that power "flows" is silly. It's as silly as saying that the stuff in
  a moving river is named "current" rather than named "water." Water is
  real, water can flow, flows of water are called currents, but we
  should never make the mistake of believing that water's motion is a
  type of substance. Talking of "current" which "flows" confuses
  everyone. The issue with energy is similar. Electrical energy is real,
  it is sort of like a stuff, and it can flow along. When electric
  energy flows, the flow is called "electric power." But electric power
  has no existence of its own. Electric power is the flow rate of
  another thing; electric power is an energy current. Energy flows, but
  power never does, just as water flows but "water current" never does.

A: Well, if you think about electric power, which includes current (notion of flux), then you'll end with the conclusion that if there's no flow, there is no power.
