Casey Langlois, Senior Power Dispatcher

The basics
Years of Service: 10
Classification: Utility Operations & Engineering
Role: I am currently a senior utility who has been assigned an outage coordinator. I plan and plan many of the outages associated with the utility’s distribution, transmission, and generation facilities. I like my job because I deal more with the field reps every day, from simple queries to a voice for the System Operations Center, what can be done in the event of major outages and how this affects system reliability. I also enjoy the fast pace and challenging atmosphere that the backup office offers.

background
Hometown: Renton Highlands, Wash.
Alma mater: Volunteer Fire Brigade Academy at the Skyway and Construction Industry Training Council of Washington (CITC)
Discipline / Study Trade: At first I aspired to become a firefighter or line worker. I began studying fire science at the Skyway Volunteer Fire Department Academy. My path changed when I started training at Keithly Electric to get my electrical license. Before I started training as a line worker at Seattle City Light, I attended the CITC in Bellevue as part of the training. That training was abandoned when I ventured into line worker training at Seattle City Light and eventually became a line worker at the south end.
Tell us about your family: Both my wife Mariko and I are from the Northwest, were born and raised in Washington. We have been married for eight years in August. We share our two and a half year old son Leon, who keeps us busy with his everyday antics – and we are expecting another boy in May 2021! My wife loves her career as a dental hygienist. I would say we both have careers that we really enjoy and that will keep us around for a long time. We both have immediate families in the area that we love to hang out with. Our roots are very well established here in the Seattle area.

My father worked at Seattle Public Utilities for over 30 years and I saw his job caring for his family. I wanted the same for my family and that got me to the utility company.

Just for fun
Where do you currently live and what do you love about the area? I live in Renton Highlands with my wife and son Leon. I love this area for its central location to everything the Seattle area has to offer, from the snow at Crystal, Snoqualmie, and Stevens to the tons of hikes and beautiful scenery and the immediate family that still lives here.

What’s one of your favorite things to do and one that you would like to do more of? My favorite thing by far is being with my family and watching our son learn new things and develop new interests. My wife and I really love to travel. Some of our favorite places are Hawaii and California, wherever there is sun and sea. We love being busy with activities like hiking, trips to the zoo, snow adventures, and sporting events. I also like to go to the golf course when I have time.

What do most people not know about you? Oh i don’t know !! Haha … I think I enjoy extreme situations. I’ve been skydiving and really loved it, although I don’t think I would ever try bungee jumping. There’s something about having large rubber bands strapped to my ankles and jumping off a bridge or a cliff, I don’t like! I’d rather jump off a plane!

What do you enjoy most about working at City Light? I like a lot of things about working in the utility company, the friendships between my employees and the experiences we have on site and in the office. The fact that I am able to support my family with my career and to work in the same city my family has been in for a long time is a great feeling.