Honing the Key to Reliable Service

Farris Leonard

Providing reliable service is a fundamental part of your electric cooperative’s mission, though it’s a complex task. Technology is used to monitor demand, predict future power needs, and even isolate or reroute power to minimize outage time and assure quality of service for each member, from homes and schools to hospitals and farms or even complex manufacturing plants.

Though even with this advanced technology, the key to reliable service still comes down to the people who build, operate and maintain the complex power system. Lineworkers are professionals who, through years of training and on-the-job experience, learn how to construct and maintain the power system daily.

A lineworker’s training never truly ends. Their career journey is one of progressive knowledge, skill demonstration and time in a multistep process. Electric co-ops have an apprenticeship program that is lengthy and demanding, which includes comprehension and skills testing. Evaluation is performed by the co-op, and while the length of time varies, it typically takes a lineworker six to eight years to complete the process and become a "journeyman."

North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives’ Job Training & Safety (JT&S) team provides supplemental training and an opportunity to earn an associate degree in Line Technology in partnership with Nash Community College in Rocky Mount. This facility provides a training environment where 20 to 25 lineworkers spend a week away from home to focus on learning and practicing critical skills. There are 12 different courses, or "schools," each dedicated to specific tasks based on the students’ experience and apprenticeship level. (Learn about recent graduates of these programs here.)

With a skilled workforce, we can be confident in maintaining the reliability and quality of service you expect.

We utilize instructors from electric co-ops, demonstrating a key cooperative principle “Cooperation Among Cooperatives.” These instructors ensure instruction that is consistent and relevant to current, real-world field operations. The demand for this training has been high, with 29 schools being held in the last two years and 29 schools scheduled for 2025. This equates to more than 700 instructional seats being filled each year.

Our schools are always incorporating new technologies to enhance the training experience for the students. This includes providing safe and state-of-the-art energized training, expanding the training field, and incorporating virtual reality into select training sessions.

The JT&S team has provided a training guide for the cooperatives that is registered with the North Carolina Community College System. It creates a roadmap of progression and minimum training standards to create consistency across the state. Upon completing 8,000 hours of on-the-job training, required schooling and task completion, the lineworker will receive a journeyman designation that is recognized not only by the state of North Carolina, but nationally.

Your electric cooperative takes training seriously, diligently investing in the people who serve you. With a skilled workforce, we can be confident in maintaining the reliability and quality of service you expect, while equipping lineworkers with the know-how needed to come home safe.