Power Distributors & Dispatchers

Also called: Power System Dispatcher, Power System Operator, Systems Operator

Career Cluster: Manufacturing
What they do:
Coordinate, regulate, or distribute electricity or steam.
On the job, you would:
  • Coordinate with engineers, planners, field personnel, or other utility workers to provide information such as clearances, switching orders, or distribution process changes.
  • Respond to emergencies, such as transformer or transmission line failures, and route current around affected areas.
  • Control, monitor, or operate equipment that regulates or distributes electricity or steam, using data obtained from instruments or computers.
KNOWLEDGE

Safety and Government
  • public safety and security
Math and Science
  • arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics
  • physics
Communications
  • telecommunications
Arts and Humanities
  • English language
SKILLS

Basic Skills
  • keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
ABILITIES

Ideas and Logic
  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
Verbal
  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say
PERSONALITY

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

They do well at jobs that need:
  • Dependability
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Attention to Detail
  • Self Control
  • Analytical Thinking
  • Initiative
TECHNOLOGY

You might use software like this on the job:

Industrial control software
  • Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
  • Wide area monitoring system WAMS software
Spreadsheet software
  • Microsoft Excel
Presentation software
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
EDUCATION


certificate after high school or associate's degree
usually needed
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JOB OUTLOOK

New job opportunities are less likely in the future.

Salary:
High: $144,900.00
Median: $107,240.00
Low: $70,760.00
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