Will AI replace Power Distributors and Dispatchers?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
25/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 43% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 44% of the work
What the job involves
Coordinate, regulate, or distribute electricity or steam.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(6)
- Coordinate with engineers, planners, field personnel, or other utility workers to provide information such as clearances, switching orders, or distribution process changes.
- Direct personnel engaged in controlling or operating distribution equipment or machinery, such as instructing control room operators to start boilers or generators.
- Prepare switching orders that will isolate work areas without causing power outages, referring to drawings of power systems.
- Calculate load estimates or equipment requirements to determine required control settings.
- Record and compile operational data, such as chart or meter readings, power demands, or usage and operating times, using transmission system maps.
and 1 more
Out of reach(8)
- Control, monitor, or operate equipment that regulates or distributes electricity or steam, using data obtained from instruments or computers.
- Respond to emergencies, such as transformer or transmission line failures, and route current around affected areas.
- 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.
- Track conditions that could affect power needs, such as changes in the weather, and adjust equipment to meet any anticipated changes.
- Manipulate controls to adjust or activate power distribution equipment or machines.
and 3 more
Also called
Control Room Operator · Substation Operator · Load Dispatcher · Switchboard Operator (SWB Operator) · SWB Operator · Dispatcher · Power System Dispatcher · Control Board Operator
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics