Department Assistant - Power Management

Salary : $51,854.40 - $62,254.40 Annually

Location : Kennewick, WA

Job Type: Full Time, Bargaining

Job Number: 202500015

Department: Power Management

Opening Date: 05/19/2025

Closing Date: 5/27/2025 11:59 PM Pacific

FLSA: Non-Exempt

Bargaining Unit: 77

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled

As of January 1, 2023, Benton PUD will be including a full wage scale or salary range for positions under the salary section shown per the Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5761 that amends portions of the Equal Pay and Opportunity Act. Please see the target hiring range for this position under the Position Purpose/Summary section.

Position Purpose/Summary

Power Up Your Career with Benton PUD!

Full-Time Non-Exempt Starting at $24.93 per hour Opportunity to Advance to $26.66 per Hour in 6 Months

Do you thrive on delivering outstanding customer service, navigating challenges with confidence, and turning complex information into clear, helpful guidance? If so, Benton PUD invites you to bring your talent and positive energy to our Power Management team as a Department Assistant.

In this dynamic front-line role, you'll be the go-to resource for customers-helping them understand their electric usage and billing, providing education on low-income and solar programs, and ensuring timely, accurate rebate reporting to the Bonneville Power Administration.

We're looking for someone who:

Communicates effectively and compassionately with a wide range of individuals

Stays calm under pressure and de-escalates tough situations with professionalism

Excels at analyzing data, generating reports, and making sound, informed decisions

Adapts quickly to changing demands while staying proactive and solutions-focused

If you're ready to support our customers and community while working in a fast-paced, service-driven environment, we'd love to hear from you.

The entry wage for the Department Assistant - Power Management position starts at $24.93 per hour; with the opportunity to advance to $26.66 per hour, within 6 months with acceptable performance and required testing. Future advancement through time and testing to Department Specialist will be required.

The primary purpose of this position is to provide specialized clerical, administrative and logistical support to a specific functional area under supervision, including exercising judgment in processing and analysis of data to compile reports, following detailed procedures, determining record retention requirements, assisting internal and external customers, and performing specialized work related to the administrative and clerical processes of a specific functional area, such as finance and customer services, engineering, operations, or power management.

Accountabilities

Support the District's mission to serve our customers and foster a positive workplace by personally choosing behavior aligned with our values and ethical code.

Contribute to the collection and retention of the department's records by assessing documents and applying the proper retention requirements according to defined criteria, classifying documents or records, and ensuring appropriate document activities are completed according to the department's record retention system, escalating issues or concerns as needed.

Ensure department or District staff concerns are promptly addressed by handling routine to complex or non-standard requests for information related to the functional groups operation and anticipating / seeking routine and specialized information from others that will further the smooth operation of the department.

Assist in serving internal and external customer needs by contacting customers, suppliers, or District employees outside the department to exchange information and receiving and handling incoming department requests, including those of a more complex or non-standard nature, and routing as needed.

Assist with the department workflow by receiving, classifying, reconciling, consolidating and summarizing documents / data and information; completing data entry in non-standard forms, spreadsheets, or templates; generating / extracting routine and specialized reports, drafting specialized correspondence from notes or verbal direction, and advanced proofreading of all department documents.

Assist with the department workflow by maintaining and balancing information for control purposes, preparing and compiling complex reports from multiple sources within and outside the department, and advanced proofreading of all department documents.

Contribute to the department's continuous improvement efforts by suggesting changes to clerical and administrative systems and making routine adjustments as directed.

Contribute to the delivery of the department's goals by assisting other administrative support areas as required, including document / data processing and logging, record keeping, mail routing, phone routing, internal customer assistance and other support activities, and by assuming allocated tasks in support of team members as required.

Complete other duties as assigned to meet team, department and organizational goals.

ADA Requirement

Attendance: Consistent need to attend work at the job site or work location. Frequent or constant need for punctuality.

Physical Effort: Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. Occasional need to move or lift boxes and/or files weighing up to 30 pounds.

Environment: Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.

Hazards: Most of the time is spent in general office or equivalent conditions.

Sensory Attention: Typically requires intermittent use of one or more senses of low intensity and short duration.

Job Pressure/Deadline Orientation: Under regular pressure to meet deadlines, quotas and/or must occasionally deal with unpleasant issues related to people or situations.

Applications may be filed online at:

Questions?

Contact Amber Melling via phone at or email at

Benton PUD's Total Pay Approach provides a comprehensive package that includes compensation, benefits, retirement plans, and employee development. We have a variety of programs and options to fit your needs, including:

Health and Life Benefits:

Medical (PPO or CDHP)

Dental

Vision

Employee Life and AD&D Insurance

Dependent Life Insurance

Short Term Disability

Long Term Disability Retirement Benefits:

Washington Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS)

457 and 401(a) Deferred Compensation Plans with Company Contribution Saving/Spending Accounts:

VEBA Health Reimbursement - to reimburse yourself for medical expenses or save for the cost of medical at retirement

Flexible Spending Accounts

Health Care Spending Account

Dependent Care Spending Account Paid Time Off

Personal Leave - accruals increase with years of service

11 Paid Holidays

New Years Day

President's Day

Memorial Day

Independence Day

Labor Day

Veteran's Day

Thanksgiving Day

Christmas Day

3 Floating Holidays Other benefits include:

Safety Incentives

Wellness Incentives

Alternative Work Schedules

Employee Assistance Program

Tuition Assistance Program

Training and Development Opportunities

Leadership Training

Community Engagement

Casual Work Attire *Some of these benefits may not apply to temporary or on call positions.

01

Do you have a high school diploma or GED?

Yes

No

02

How many years of work experience do you have in an office support setting?

No experience

Up to 2 years

2 to 4 years

5 or more years

03

Please indicate your years of experience providing "front line" customer service, which would include greeting customers, handling customer requests, and/or routing customers to the most appropriate person:

No experience

Up to 2 years of experience

2 or more years of experience

04

What level of computer skills do you have?

Little to no computer skills

Basic computer skills

Intermediate Computer Skills

Advanced Computer Skills

05

Please rate your experience and proficiency using MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook):

Basic

Intermediate

Advanced

06

Describe your skill level in Excel:

None

Basic

Intermediate

Advanced

07

Do you have keyboarding experience?

Yes

No

08

Do you have 10-key data entry experience?

Yes

No

09

Are you bilingual in conversational Spanish?

Yes

No

Required Question