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Power Distributors and Dispatchers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Coordinate, regulate, or distribute electricity or steam.

Related: Electrical & Electronics Repairers, Commercial & Industrial Equipment Electrical & Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, & Relay Hydroelectric Plant Technicians Power Plant Operators Stationary Engineers & Boiler Operators

Industries: Utilities Government Management

Summary
Details

Calculate load estimates or equipment requirements to determine required control settings.
Coordinate with engineers, planners, field personnel, or other utility workers to provide information such as clearances, switching orders, or distribution process changes.
Track conditions that could affect power needs, such as changes in the weather, and adjust equipment to meet any anticipated changes.
Monitor and record switchboard or control board readings to ensure that electrical or steam distribution equipment is operating properly.
Record and compile operational data, such as chart or meter readings, power demands, or usage and operating times, using transmission system maps.
Monitor and record switchboard or control board readings to ensure that electrical or steam distribution equipment is operating properly.
Prepare switching orders that will isolate work areas without causing power outages, referring to drawings of power systems.
Inspect equipment to ensure that specifications are met or to detect any defects.
Control, monitor, or operate equipment that regulates or distributes electricity or steam, using data obtained from instruments or computers.
Track conditions that could affect power needs, such as changes in the weather, and adjust equipment to meet any anticipated changes.
Implement energy schedules, including real-time transmission reservations or schedules.
Distribute or regulate the flow of power between entities, such as generating stations, substations, distribution lines, or users, keeping track of the status of circuits or connections.
Direct personnel engaged in controlling or operating distribution equipment or machinery, such as instructing control room operators to start boilers or generators.
Manipulate controls to adjust or activate power distribution equipment or machines.
Respond to emergencies, such as transformer or transmission line failures, and route current around affected areas.
Tend auxiliary equipment used in the power distribution process.

Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.

Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

More than 1 year on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

139170/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

66.91/hr

Currently Employed

440

Yearly Projected Openings

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Adaptability
Stress Tolerance
Self-Control
Cautiousness
Integrity
Attention to Detail

Distribution or control board fixtures
Electrical control panels for generators
Mainframe computers

Data base user interface and query software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Geographic information system
Industrial control software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Spreadsheet software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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