I can say this with confidence if you are electrical engineer in Nepal then you must have at least once thought about getting into Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the main electricity regulatory authority of the Nation. After completing my B.E (Electrical) from Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University (2008-2012), I had many options in my disposition and getting into NEA by taking part in tough Open Competition was one of it. Not that NEA have frequent vacancy calls, but we (our batch of engineers) have considered ourselves lucky because there was huge seats of vacancy calls and total of 129 electrical engineers were recruited after (quite a long procedure of) open competition in written and interview. I am one of them.
I have been appointed as Electrical Engineer, Officer Level 7 at Baglung Distribution and Customer Services (DCS), NEA. That means I am now beginning my career as Electrical Distribution Engineer and for me this is a huge huge opportunity to apply what I have learnt in field of electrical engineering during past 6 years. Just like me, most of our batch of newly recruited Electrical Engineers have been posted to various DCS across the country. From this we can learn that, there have been huge shortage of electrical engineers in one of the most crucial body of NEA i.e Distribution and Public Relation. So, for newly appointed engineers it is a bigger challenge to uplift the galcous image of NEA among the general public along with their core technical service area. (In the future I will probably someday write about the public response to services of NEA as well).
After appointment (Jan 16, 2015) , NEA conducted 15 Days of “Induction Training” for new recruits starting from Jan 18, 2015 which was concluded yesterday ( February 2, 2015). The main objective of this training was to bridge the gap between academy courses and professional requirements since in the new batch of Engineers some were fresh graduates along with few experienced engineers.
I would like to bullet out some major highlights of this training:
- Establishment and History of NEA
- Orientation about various Sectors, Directorates, Departments and Branches of NEA from respective heads.
- Overview of various service areas, rules, regulations, laws, by-laws, formats and procedures inside NEA
- Overview of national and international laws and regulations guiding the responsibilities, rights and duties of professionals and citizens.
- Overview of past and ongoing projects along with their development and challenges.
- Technical practices and regulations followed in NEA
- Trainings on development of professional etiquette and social human behaviour
( I will be writing different topic about major learnings and how I am applying them in the real field as well as challenges associated with those)
Thus, in an overall sense, I consider this as a very fruitful fifteen days. And yes, this is the first time NEA has conducted a fifteen days Induction Training by replacing the three days Induction Training.
During the course of training, I paid special attention classes regarding various distribution policies, status, challenges and duties of distribution engineer. In the meantime, I have also started building a basic duty map and guidelines for my new career. This started with making the list of basic roles of electrical distribution engineer. I am quite aware that it won’t just be core technical jobs that I would beed to handle. While working in DCS, we will need to pay extra attention to need of community and consumers and provide them services keeping in mind the high sense of responsibility as an public officer and high quality technical design and implementation as an Electrical Engineer among various legal and socio-economic constraints. After completion of Induction training since yesterday, now we shall be working in our respective offices. Although we already have scattered images of our duties in upcoming days, I wanted to organise the stream of thoughts and hence I am writing this.
Basic Roles of Electrical Distribution Engineer
I have divided the roles under various topics as following:
Social/Professional Roles:
- Coordinate with the upper authorities, same level authorities and assistants (S)
- Coordinate with different departments and offices for smooth operation of plans (S)
- Study related laws and regulations (S)
Essential and Major Roles:
- Prepare Plans, Specifications and Cost Estimates for the installation, maintenance, repair and expansion of electrical distribution system (E and M)
- Develop specifications for material purchases and construction standards (E and M)
- Calculate customer loads for sizing transformer banks and services (E and M)
- Inspect the Installation of electrical equipment and related facilities (E and M)Budget coordination, disbursement and Control
- Respond to emergency conditions and assist in restoring the electrical distribution system to normal operation (E and M)
- Advice developers and contractors regarding technical requirements (E and M)
- Coordinate electrical distribution system, street and traffic lighting, industrial distribution. (E and M)
- Perform system protection and coordination systems (E and M)
- Coordinate with work of crews engaged in O/M of structures, distribution lines and substation. (E and M)
Essential Roles:
- Perform System Planning and Development Studies (E)
- Recommend Construction practices and procedures (E)
- Respond to consumers/citizens complaints and questions (E)
- Provide highly responsible and technical staff assistance (E)
Related
- Inspection and Monitoring of Electrical System Performance (R)
- Take active participation in developing the Goals, Objectives, Policies and Planning (R)
- Prepare case studies, reports and recommendations pertaining to the overall electric system operation ( R )
I hope this can serve as guidelines to me and other colleagues as well.
I decided to do this because during the course of training I heard this complaint that a proper Job description has not been yet provided. This is not the official job description but just the realizations of basic roles of Electrical Distribution Engineer. (smile)
