Six-month and yearly averages of solar wind speed from 1962 to 1975 are shown to be highly correlated with geomagnetic activity as measured by averages of the AP index. On the same time scale the correlation between the southward component of the interplanetary magnetic field and geomagnetic activity is poor. Previous studies with hourly averages give opposite results. The better correlation with the southward component on an hourly time scale is explained by its large variation compared to the relatively constant solar wind speed. However, on a yearly time scale the magnitude of the variations in both parameters are about the same. This problems can be solved by invoking an energy transfer mechanism which is proportional to the first power of the sourthward component and a higher power of the solar wind speed.