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Who Attends and How Do They Rate the Classes?
More than 14,000 utility employees have attended PTS classes. The average evaluation for the course for the 14,000 employees is 9.4 out of a possible 10. The average evaluation for some of the specific occupations is provided below.
Accountant Executive / Key Account Representatives
More than 490 account executives have attended the EUSO class. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.5 out of 10. The EUSO class provides account executives the ability to talk to the technical representatives from customers in a common language.
Accountants
More than 1,330 accountants have attended the EUSO class. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10. Many CPAs use the training use the EUSO class for their CEU educational requirements.
Administrative Assistants
More than 770 administrative assistants have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10.
Attorneys
More than 280 attorneys have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.2 out of 10.
Auditors
More than 450 auditors have attended the EUSO class. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.2 out of 10. Metro Edison from Reading, PA, which then became GPU, which then became First Energy has used the EUSO class for the education component of the auditors annual meeting. Georgia Power has also used the EUSO class for the education component of the auditors annual meeting.
Board of Directors
More than 20 board members have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.1 out of 10. Most of these have been from municipals, public utility districts and cooperatives. According to them, the reason they attend is to get an understanding of what they are charged to oversee.
Communications, Internal and External
More than 240 people responsible for communications have attended the EUSO class. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.2 out of 10. Employees in these jobs are basically translators who must translate the engineering and operations terminology into language that employees can understand in the utility's newsletter, and into language the media can understand. The EUSO class provides this understanding.
Computer Programmers / Systems Analyst
More than 550 computer professionals have attended the class. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10. Metro Edison from Reading, PA, which became GPU, which is now First energy used the EUSO class for in-house classes for computer professionals. Mississippi Power from Gulfport, MS, has done the same.
Customer Service Representatives
More than 1,900 customer service representatives have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.4 out of 10. Those who have requested the EUSO course in-house for these personnel include: First Energy; Utah Power in Salt Lake City; Pacific Power in Portland, Oregon; Missouri Public Service in Kansas City; and Jersey Central Power & Light (now First Energy).
Electricians, Generating Plant
More than 70 generating-plant electricians have attended PTS classes. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.1 out of 10.
Electricians, Substation
More than 40 substation electricians have attended PTS classes. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.4 out of 10.
Engineers, Civil and Structural
More than 550 civil and structural engineers have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.2 out of 10. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has made the EUSO class mandatory for all engineers. At TVA, engineering managers were finding that many civil and structural engineers who attended the class, came out with a much better understanding of overall system operations at TVA than many of its electrical engineers. Several engineering managers attended the class to evaluate it and decided that every engineer needed to attend.
Engineers, Electrical and Mechanical
More than 1,250 electrical and mechanical engineers have attended PTS classes. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.2 out of 10. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has made the EUSO class mandatory for all engineers.
Georgia Power found that it was losing much of its engineering expertise in Power Delivery (distribution) due to retirement. Rather than wait the 6 years it typically takes an electrical engineering graduate to become fully productive, Georgia Power provides a comprehensive series of classes designed to reduce the 6-year period to 1 year. Each topic was evaluated as to whether the class should be developed in-house, or subcontracted out. They selected the EUSO class as a key component in their series of classes and so now all newly hired Power Delivery engineers must attend the class. Georgia Power also ensures that all engineering students in their co-op program also attend. This gives these students a significant advantage over other students in their electrical engineering classes.
At the same time, Georgia Power realized that experienced electrical engineers often become specialized, which greatly limited advancement opportunities. In order to provide an opportunity for electrical engineers to have a broad range of expertise, a more advanced series of classes were developed. The EUSO class was also selected for this more advanced training.
Environmental Engineers & Scientists
More than 160 environmental engineers and scientists have attended PTS courses. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10. This group often finds itself in the field working around electrical lines and equipment. PTS classes provide them with an understanding of the equipment with emphasis on the safety aspects when working around electrical equipment.
Financial Analyst
More than 440 financial analysts have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.2 out of 10. Financial analysts often have to evaluate the cost-benefits in various design options. For instance, when a substation design engineer specifies a high-side circuit breaker in a distribution substation, it helps the analysis when a finance person knows enough to ask why a fuse or circuit switcher cannot be used instead.
Generator Operators
More than 240 generator operators have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10.
The least understood part of generator operation is the aspect of Volt-Amps reactive or VArs. Sometimes expressed in VArs in and out, positive and negative VArs and sometimes as leading and lagging VArs, this aspect of generator operation is critical to efficient operations. Some operators are told a generator cannot run with negative VArs. This in not true. Other operators are told that VArs are like, "foam on a beer." This insults the intelligence of a generator operator. The EUSO class explains in detail what VArs really are.
Several utilities offer the EUSO class at their generating plants so that operators, and those training to become operators can attend. These utilities include Tacoma Power (Washington), Pacific Power (at several Wyoming plants), Nebraska Public Power District, Tennessee Valley Authority, the City of San Francisco, Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric. A common denominator among these utilities is that they have some of the most efficient and best-run generating plants in North America.
Line Crews, Apprentice and Journey-level
More than 880 line workers have attended PTS courses. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10. Tacoma Power (Washington) has, for years, had one of the best line apprentice training programs in the country. The quality is such that other northwest utilities send apprentices to Tacoma Power for training.
To make a top-notch program even better, several years ago Tacoma Power sent all apprentice instructors through PTS classes, and now all apprentices attend the class as part of their apprenticeship training.
Purchasing / Buyers
More than 880 purchasing professionals and buyers have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.2 out of 10. The EUSO class not only provides purchasing professionals with a comprehensive understanding of the equipment they are buying, it also provides them with insight into the latest technology. It also provides needed information regarding the risks in purchasing prototype designs, and how to minimize these risks.
Relay Technicians / Instrumentation and Control Technicians
More than 110 relay technicians and instrumentation and control technicians have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10.
Regulatory Staff Members (State regulatory bodies)
Twenty-four employees from the regulatory commissions of Idaho, Minnesota and Washington have attended. The average evaluation for the class is 8.9 out of 10. These are the employees that make recommendations to the actual commissions that make the decisions that guide investor-owned utilities. It should be mandatory, then, that the regulatory staff understand what they are recommending in such areas as deregulation, reducing maintenance costs, and rate-increase requests.
Safety Professionals
More than 110 safety professionals have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.5 out of 10. In order for safety professionals to be the best they can be, they must have a thorough understanding of the electrical system in a utility. The EUSO provides this understanding. Many people who attend the EUSO class start the class believing that the tires protect the people inside when a power line falls on the car. This is absolutely untrue. Most utility employees enter the class believing that if a person does not touch a power line laying on the ground, they are safe. This is also untrue. The EUSO class clearly explains how the ground near a downed power line can become energized and deadly and so just walking close to it can be fatal.
Secretaries
More than 510 secretaries have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.3 out of 10. Secretaries often work as translators, translating technical jargon into understandable terminology. Truly understanding what the jargon really means is the easiest way to make the necessary translation. The EUSO class provides this understanding.
System Operators
More than 310 system operators have attended the EUSO course. Their average evaluation for the class is 9.5 out of 10. System operators truly make life and death decisions in which the wrong decisions can result in fatalities in the field. This responsibility required that they be the most knowledgeable employees in a utility. Many utilities use the EUSO class as one component of operator training. Operators state that they leave the EUSO class knowing, for the first time, that they really understand VArs. For systems operators not coming from a substation or generation background, it clearly explains what is actually happening inside generators and inside key pieces of substation equipment.
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