Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 115,900 people employed as electrical power-line installers and repairers in the United States. The median annual salary is $75,000. Entry level employees earn approximately $39,090 per year and senior employees earn approximately $108,380 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime pay, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Adhere to safety practices and procedures, such as checking equipment regularly and erecting barriers around work areas.
• Drive vehicles equipped with tools and materials to job sites.
• Open switches or attach grounding devices to remove electrical hazards from disturbed or fallen lines or to facilitate repairs.
• Climb poles or use truck-mounted buckets to access equipment.
• Install, maintain, and repair electrical distribution and transmission systems, including conduits, cables, wires, and related equipment, such as transformers, circuit breakers, and switches.
• Inspect and test power lines and auxiliary equipment to locate and identify problems, using reading and testing instruments.
• Coordinate work assignment preparation and completion with other workers.
• Replace or straighten damaged poles.
• String wire conductors and cables between poles, towers, trenches, pylons, and buildings, setting lines in place and using winches to adjust tension.
• Attach cross-arms, insulators, and auxiliary equipment to poles prior to installing them.
• Dig holes, using augers, and set poles, using cranes and power equipment.
• Travel in trucks, helicopters, and airplanes to inspect lines for freedom from obstruction and adequacy of insulation.
• Identify defective sectionalizing devices, circuit breakers, fuses, voltage regulators, transformers, switches, relays, or wiring, using wiring diagrams and electrical-testing instruments.
• Install watt-hour meters and connect service drops between power lines and consumers' facilities.
• Test conductors, according to electrical diagrams and specifications, to identify corresponding conductors and to prevent incorrect connections.
• Place insulating or fireproofing materials over conductors and joints.
• Splice or solder cables together or to overhead transmission lines, customer service lines, or street light lines, using hand tools, epoxies, or specialized equipment.
• Trim trees that could be hazardous to the functioning of cables or wires.
• Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks.
• Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduit running through the trenches.
• Cut trenches for laying underground cables, using trenchers and cable plows.
• Cut and peel lead sheathing and insulation from defective or newly installed cables and conduits prior to splicing.
• Clean, tin, and splice corresponding conductors by twisting ends together or by joining ends with metal clamps and soldering connections.

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