Hotline of power engineering specialists:
Professional skills competitions for employees of electricity metering and loss optimization departments in Distribution Zones of IDGC of Centre and IDGC of Centre and Volga Region finished with victory of the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod branches.
At the training centre in the city of Rostov Veliky, from 17 to 18 May, twenty teams of IDGC of Centre and IDGC of Centre and Volga Region: one for each region of the company's service area, competed for the right to be called the best employees of electricity metering and loss optimization departments. The current format of the competitions, in which staff of IDGC of Centre and IDGC of Centre and Volga Region took part, was realized for the first time - at the moment both distribution grid companies are in the process of merging.
At the opening of the event, Svetlana Zholnerchik, Chief Advisor to Director General of PJSC Rosseti, noted in her speech that the personnel involved in the metering and control of electricity plays a primary role in the company's activities today, since losses are a missed opportunity for the company to develop and realize additional volumes of production programs. Therefore, 2017 was announced by PJSC "Rosseti" as a year of struggle against losses.
The importance of the topic of reducing losses in the current economic conditions was also stressed by Andrey Lukashov, Director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services, Energy and Tariff Regulation of the Yaroslavl Region, invited to the competitions of power engineers:
"Reducing losses is, first of all, a greater number of products brought to the end user and improving its quality. This aspect determines the efficiency of any enterprise, both in the energy sector and in the economy as a whole," Andrey Lukashov explained.
The program of the competitions consisted of five stages. The contestants were required to demonstrate knowledge of the existing rules, regulations and methodological instructions, the skills of providing first aid, to commission a measuring device with a three-phase electricity meter and current measuring transformers in an electrical installation up to 1000 volts, to replace a known faulty single-phase electricity meter, fire extinguishing in an electrical installation.
When preparing for the competitions, all the teams did a lot of work: they studied technological and normative documentation, instructions, conducted practical exercises and practiced the implementation of operations. Judges assessed the correctness of the assignment in accordance with the technological card and regulatory documentation on labour protection and safety, technical operation, fire safety. All tasks were performed on time, for any mistake competitive scores were taken from the teams.
The most difficult technical stage of the competitions, from the point of view of the participants and judges, was stage number 4, where the work was done on a measuring device with a three-phase electricity meter and current measurement transformers.
"The three-phase meter is more complicated than the single-phase meter, in order to check the correctness of its connection, it is necessary to perform a larger amount of work with measuring devices. An additional difficulty for the teams was caused by work at the testbench - they are not yet available in all the branches. Crews that are used to dealing with "live" consumers and "live" meters, the actions at the testbench sometimes caused inconvenience. In this case, the advantage was given to those teams that were prepared with the use of testbenches," explained the chief judge of the competitions, the head of the department for development of electricity metering and energy services of PJSC "Rosseti" Alexander Peshkov.
In general, the judges recorded a high level of all participants. Of IDGC of Centre’s teams, the team of the Yarenergo branch managed the best with all the tasks and, with the result of 729.5 points out of 730 possible, took the first place. Of IDGC of Centre and Volga Region teams the branch of Nizhnovenergo, with a score of 632.5 points, celebrated its victory.
"I was sure in the guys, they are good fellows," Marina Stolbnikova, the head of the Yaroslavl team, admitted. "We were preparing for the competitions for three weeks. In each direction, the heads of the respective departments worked with the team. The last week was particularly active with visiting the training centre and testbenches. They did not focus on anything particularly, all stages are equivalent, strict judges are at all of them, so they worked everything out. I think that the victory was due to the zeal of those who trained the team and the efforts of the employees themselves - they really wanted to win."
The team of Nizhnovenergo did no less thorough work on the training: "Sleepless nights, work with examination cards, study of documents on labour protection and safety and work at testbenches - all was worked out to automatism," said the team leader Oleg Titov.
Oleg Titov had positive impressions with the competitions, especially he stressed the moment of experience exchange. In his opinion, the exchange of experience is not just empty words. Energy is a complex sphere and it is not always enough to read a textbook to understand all the nuances, so you need to learn from someone who knows and can do more.
"Different branches may have different technological cards. None of them contradict the requirements, but how to choose the best one? According to the results of the competitions, I'm sure everyone will see the video of work of the teams, analyze the differences and select the best options for further work. To me, personally, it's very interesting to see the video recordings of the performances of IDGC of Centre's leading teams," Oleg Titov explained.
Competitions of professional skills of power engineers are conducted as one of the forms of staff training. Director of the branch "Yarenergo" Alexander Kornilov drew attention to the fact that the stage of preparation is almost more important than the competitions themselves, because it is at the stage of preparation that employees receive the basic amount of knowledge, do exercises, simulate various situations. Along with the quality annual training that employees pass, this work leads to high results:
"Our team has become the best. This indicates that our employees are the most qualified, trained and able to successfully carry out the tasks they face," concluded Alexander Kornilov.
In addition, Alexander Kornilov said that in each Distribution Zone of the branch "Yarenergo" testbenches were purchased, where employees of electricity metering departments conduct training for replacement of meters, their instrumental checks, identify "modified" meters with devices that distort meter readings.
At the closing ceremony, Evgenia Kabanova, Deputy General Director for Sale and Development of Services of IDGC of Centre, thanked the participants and organizers of the event and expressed the hope that teams from twenty regions of the country, each of which has its own unique experience, could exchange it with colleagues, improve their qualifications, and learn something new, which will help specialists in their future work.
"As much as it sounds banal, but - staff decides everything. We can make many managerial decisions, form regulatory documents, approve measures. But all our documents are implemented by our employees. And for us it is of paramount importance to succeed, to have feedback and to constantly improve the level of personnel's qualifications," Evgenia Kabanova said.
The winners of the professional skills of the employees of the electricity metering departments and loss optimization in the Distribution Zone of IDGC of Centre and IDGC of Centre and Volga Region are:
IDGC of Centre:
1st place - team "Yarenergo"
2nd place - team "Kostromaenergo"
3rd place - team "Belgorodenergo"
"The best resuscitator" - Dmitry Tsibulsky "Smolenskenergo"
"The best expert of electrical engineering" - Alexey Paskhin "Yarenergo"
"The best crew car" was prepared by the branch "Bryanskenergo"
"The best referee of the competitions" according to the participants - Olga Aldonova, Executive Office "IDGC of Centre"
Igor Marchenko "Kurskenergo" was awarded "For Labour Longevity" prize
"Energy Hope" - Ruslan Dmitriev "Voronezhenergo"
IDGC of Centre and Volga Region:
1st place - team "Nizhnovenergo"
2nd place - team "Ivenergo"
3rd place - team "Marienergo"
"The best resuscitator" - Antonov Sergey "Ivenergo"
"The best expert in electrical engineering" - Sergey Veselov "Nizhnovenergo"
"The best crew car" was prepared by the branch "Kirovenergo"
"The best referee of the competitions" in the opinion of the participants - Magamed Arkhilaev Executive Office "IDGC of Centre"
Valeriy Pilgaev "Ryazanenergo" was awarded "For Labor Longevity" prize
"Energy Hope" - Andrey Shabalin "Kirovenergo"
All the winners received memorable and valuable incentive prizes. The team of Yarenergo and Nizhnovenergo received the main prizes of the competitions - new crew UAZ vehicles.
