Power Dispatcher

Seattle City Light, a department of the City of Seattle, is one of the nation’s largest municipally owned utilities in terms of the number of customers served. Over the years we have worked very hard to keep Seattle's electricity affordable, reliable, and environmentally sound. Today, City Light is a recognized national leader in energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. Seattle City Light has an opportunity for safety-focused, detail-oriented Power Dispatchers to join the System Operations Center. The System Operations Center is a 24-hour operation and plays a critical function in the real-time operation of Seattle City Light (SCL) hydroelectric projects and municipal electric power systems. The Power Dispatchers work under limited supervision, communicate with customer service, distribution, maintenance and repair personnel within City Light, as well as outside utility staff and customers as necessary to exchange information. They work on developing strong safety methods and practices associated with dispatching work, in part, by conducting field visits to investigate problems, verify equipment status, properly identify locations of equipment failures and carry out related field duties. These positions are the most customer facing job within the System Operations Center. This position will report to the Chief Power Dispatcher. Here is more about what you’ll be doing:

• Plans and executes switching to maintain the system's integrity so field crews may work safely on equipment and then returns the system to normal.

• Investigates alarms and calls from customers, substation operators, and police and fire dispatchers to determine whether power needs to be restored. Analyzes reports and data; plans and directs switching to restore outages; dispatches crews to make repairs; and informs appropriate departmental personnel about outages.

• Issues clearances, keeps or holds them open for routine and emergency requests after researching and planning switching sequences.

• Maintains various logs such as Power Dispatcher Logs, Service Dispatcher Logs, and clearances.

• Maintains and updates records, maps and drawings of the distribution system and equipment.

• Monitors the distribution system using computer monitoring systems and reports from substation operators.

• Answers customer calls