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Working for a Utility
2

Working for a Utility

Working for a Utility

(OP)
Hello all,

I currently work for a consulting firm providing engineering for REMCs and municipalities (I personally do mostly system planning). I'm getting a little bored... most of my day is spent sitting in front of a computer. I update system models (using various commercial software packages), perform my analyses, write up my report, and repeat for the next utility. Typically, my jobs are small enough that they can be performed entirely by me without sitting down and talking to other people (aside from the utility itself). I'd like to work somewhere where I can move around... not necessarily field work (though that is an option), but just somewhere I can be on my feet, plan and talk with other people, etc.

I'm giving some thought to applying for work at a utility. I'm thinking I'd rather work for a larger IOU as opposed to an REMC. I imagine I would work in a system planning capacity, though this is not necessarily true. I'd also like to work in transmission, though I'm open to distribution.

What is day to day life for an engineer like at a utility? What positions would allow me to step back from a computer model? Am I meeting with people discussing various projects? I really enjoy getting out my calculator and paper and doing the calculations myself rather than relying solely on a model... what position would this best match? My impression is that the employees can be worked pretty hard... will 55 hour weeks become routine?

I'm just looking for an overview of life at utilities. Any advice you can give would certainly be appreciated.

Thank you

RE: Working for a Utility

The larger the organization, the more specialized the work becomes. I suspect working for a large IOU could be more regimented than what you are doing now, but there might be more opportunity for advancement. If you want to get out from the desk a little, you might consider working as a distribution engineer rather than a planner.

RE: Working for a Utility

A Test & Energization (T&E) engineering position would also have a fair amount of field time.

RE: Working for a Utility

(OP)
An additional desire is to not do so much computer modeling. I want to do more of the math by calculator or in excel. I feel like I perform more data entry followed by results verification. Is this characteristic of system planning? Is there position (protection, design, etc) that would allow me to get my head out of the model?

RE: Working for a Utility

Maybe you should change from planning to doing protection.

RE: Working for a Utility

On the other hand, good planners are in high demand at the moment as RTO's, ISO's and NERC place more and more study/data demands on utilities.

At the right size muni (say somewhere less than 1000 MW peak) every engineer wears a couple of different hats. You could be the planning guy AND the protection guy, for example.

RE: Working for a Utility

At 1000 MW it is unlikely you will wear both planning and protection hats if you are in transmission, if you are doing distribution it is possible. Maybe you mean something smaller like 500 MW.

At some point, large muni's, tend to look more and more like IOU's. However small muni's can be very unorginized, and tend to lean on a few people to order things.
Most orginizations have a few very techinical people leading (and not necessarly the bosses), and a number of supporting, and a good deal of people doing the actual work.
The people doing the work are usually the craft people, linemen, technications, customer service, etc.
So the question is are your skills at the leader, or support level? This should be a question you ask of yourself.

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