Hydraulics provide a good analogy for those who do not understand electrical flow.
My recommendations in an AC cord would be limited to those that are either large diameter (small gauge number) with great material (best copper - I do not know about silver for this application) and good connectors. If you can solder, I also highly recommend making cables, although I do not know if this is appropriate for power cables.
I also have personally found that Audioquest or Synergistic Research power cords with potential EMF surrounds also sound better. In your price range, I would recommend Audioquest Blizzard or preferably Thunder (high current).
My system is custom mains from box to wall (underground line direct from step down transformer in a rural setting - power is measurably excellent) > Audioquest wall receptacle > Nordost power system with ground > SR Euphoria power cords to all equipment > Esoteric X-01XD SACD player with external Cybershaft OCXO master clock (OP-19) > Luxman CL1000 preamplifier > Audio Research 250SE power amplifier > Wilson Audio Sasha DAW speakers. Balanced XLR connectors are Shunyata Sigma (1st and 2nd generation), speaker cables are SR Galileos. Custom underground listening cavern with passive absorption and active spectrum reflections at pre-determined locations.
