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My name is Paul Elkins.
I am the energy services manager for the city of Georgetown.
I've been in the business for a little over 26 years.
With technology over the past 26 years that I've seen,
Has drastically increased as far as skill sets needed to do the task of everyday linemen.
We have electronic devices now where in the past we had manual type devices
to do our switching and controls.
The education hump, so to speak, to get over as for as learning the new technologies
becoming comfortable with them.
In the past, a lineman could open a switch and see a visible opening
and know the line is de-energized.
The newer switches
operate through internal measures so there's less of a visual type aspect
where we are able to see if things are open and closed.
The average age of a lineman today is in the mid- to upper-40s and that's industry-wide.
It's very important that utility companies train future linemen
and pass that knowledge from a skilled laborer to an unskilled laborer
who is coming up through the apprentice ranks is paramount.