The best paying jobs in public utilities can pay thousands of dollars per annum. If you are well-educated and have years of experience in your field, public utilities jobs pay good money. The public utility industry requires professionals who can tackle issues to do with water systems, sewer systems, electricity, natural gas, nuclear energy, etc.
The US utility industry does its best to minimize unemployment. It is a broad sector worth eight hundred and eighty-point-three billion dollars. Apply for the best paying jobs in public utilities if you can qualify. We will reveal our list of the best-paying jobs in the public utility sector next.
List of 13 Best Paying Jobs in Public Utilities
- Water Resource Specialist
- Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineer
- Nuclear Licensing Engineer
- Power systems engineer
- Power system Dispatcher
- Radiation engineer
- Gas Controller
- Substation Engineer
- Power Transmission Engineer
- Transmission engineer
- Power Transmission Engineer
- Transmission Engineer
- Power Distribution Engineer
Top 13 best paying Jobs in Public Utilities (Detailed Discussion)
Many jobs are available in public utilities, but some offer high salaries. We will discuss the careers that pay over $100,000 per annum by the US Public Utilities Commission.
1. Water Resource Specialist
The best paid water resource specialist salary ranges from 59,000 to 276,000 dollars per annum. You can send your application to jobs related to water supplies if you qualify, money is good, as you can see, and you only need to prove your worth.
As a water resource specialist, your work is to supervise water resources within your region to prevent contamination. Additionally, you should enforce water conservation measures and do other duties to promote public health. You should inform the public about water issues, including conservation, rationing, recycling, and safety by writing press releases. A water resource specialist works with environment consultants and specialists
No other career in the utility sector has a maximum pay higher than this one, making it one of the best paying jobs in public utilities. A closely related job title is water resource engineer.
Water resource engineers are civil engineers who can build water plant systems and inspect underground springs and wells. They earn an annual salary of around 75000 to 106,500 dollars.
2. Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineer
The aggregate pay per annum for nuclear criticality safety engineers is 70,000 to 172,000 dollars. Although this salary is way below the maximum annual salary for an executive water resources specialist, it remains one of the top jobs in public utilities. The lowest amount you can receive as a nuclear criticality safety engineer is around 73,000 to 75,000 dollars. A safety engineer of this nature has many responsibilities, including research and development.
They also assess the modes of transporting, tackling, and storing nuclear fuel to avoid accidents or reactions. Nuclear criticality safety engineers work in nuclear plants to help identify safety hazards and ensure that the facility runs according to government regulations. They prepare and send proposal reports to the government’s review board for assessment.
3. Nuclear Licensing Engineer
The nuclear sector provides some of the best paying jobs in public utilities. As a nuclear licensing engineer, you can make up from 66,000 to 145,500 dollars in one year. As the job title suggests, your top role is to offer licenses and regulations to nuclear energy plants.
Besides that, you must assess all systems and machinery in a nuclear energy plant and produce a report. Nuclear Licensing Engineers work with the energy sector, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and regulatory inspectors to create and implement other regulatory standards and codes.
Hence, it is up to you to design licensing papers, perform technical and regulatory analyses, and deal with arising compliance issues.
4. Power Plant Engineer
If you looking for respected and well paid jobs in public utilities, consider applying for power plant engineering vacancies. As you can guess, the role of a power plant engineer is to monitor and maintain power plant operations. They must run operational tests, suggest maintenance tips, and examine thermal equipment.
An ideal candidate needs to have a good education. For instance, they require an undergraduate engineering degree plus a specialized one in a different field. This field can be nuclear, electrical, or chemical engineering. A required set of skills includes analytical abilities, teamwork, and communication.
A power plant engineer earns a high minimum salary. Their range is from 96,500 to 135,500 dollars per annum. As you can see, power plant operations jobs are some of the most lucrative in the public service sector.
5. Power Engineer
Are you looking for a public utilities job in the power engineer line? If so, you stand a chance to make around 87,500 to 135,000 dollars per year as a power engineer. Power engineers have technical and critical work in commercial and industrial sectors. Like the power plant operator job, these engineers maintain and repair electrical grid machines and systems.
As a power engineer, you should confirm that every worker follows safe operating standards when working. You must demonstrate your knowledge and experience in power and lighting, air conditioning, water treatment, power generation, transmission equipment, etc. You should have team-building skills to fit in a busy work environment.
6. Power Systems Engineer
As an electrician, you can find the best paying jobs in public utilities in the energy industry. Your professional work is to create, evaluate, and supervise electrical power transmission systems for a utility firm. You can find job vacancies in conventional grid companies or ever-increasing renewable energy plants.
Besides doing electric metering, you should assess power generation and distribution systems to identify and solve inefficiencies. Power system engineers work closely with project managers as they help them identify the best sites to set up energy stations. And for great work, you can make an annual salary range of between 88,500 and 127,500 dollars, depending on your position. Hence, this is one of the best paying jobs in public utilities.
7. Power System Dispatcher
The energy sector is a leading provider of jobs in public utilities in the US. One of the best titles you can snatch is the power system, dispatcher. As a dispatcher, you can make 47,500 to 124,500 dollars every year. You cannot make anything below 47,000 dollars per year.
Power system dispatchers decide on power distribution, including the quantity of electricity each consumer gets. They also ensure efficiency in residential and commercial electricity distribution. Power system dispatchers’ assistance becomes handier when seasons change and cause an immediate reaction like rationing.
They help restore power after blackouts by sending electricians to the affected areas. You will earn more money than a journeyman lineman, though. An average journeyman’s electricity salary range is between $71,000 and $95,500. Their work is to build, maintain, and repair energy transmission machinery located above and beneath the ground. A journeyman should not fear climbing to high places or lifting heavy loads.
8. Radiation Engineer
Do you understand how radiation equipment and technology work? If yes, radiation engineering is one of the well established jobs in public utilities. Like other high-profile engineering jobs, we discussed, this career path calls for educated and experienced professionals. As a radiation engineer, you must assess radiation effects in different environments.
However, you will run your tests on a machine or system after its radiation exposure. In your report, you should recommend the best layouts, designs, and components to enable machines to operate optimally. As your work is technical and sensitive, you can get paid a salary of 73,000 to 123,500 dollars in twelve months.
9. Gas Controller
A gas controller earns a salary of around 60,000 to 120,000 dollar and is an option if looking for the best paying jobs in public utilities. The least he can make every twelve months is $62,000. Gas controllers monitor natural gas and oil pipelines. Thus, your appropriate employers work in the oil and gas industry.
You must demonstrate your ability to identify and solve severe issues affecting the distribution of natural gas and oil to the consumer. So you are going to work closely with the natural gas distribution industry.
Hence, your analytical skills should be admirable as you will need to scrutinize live pressure data from the pipeline. If you notice abnormal flow readings, reset the gas chamber settings until the situation normalizes.
Also, you need to evaluate different operations records, run equipment accuracy tests, maintain, and repair cleaning machines, and conduct safety checks during oil and gas transportation. The gas controller is, therefore, one of the highest paid jobs in public utilities.
10. Substation Engineer
As a substation engineer, you must help your employer make design plans for energy substations. Also, you need a team player to work with other professionals to make electrical drawings and documentation. You should help identify the best cables and conduits for each substation and know how to use relevant software.
If you are an electrical engineer with an undergraduate degree, this is one of the well paid paying jobs in public utilities. Like other engineering jobs we have discussed, this one pays 92,000 to 120,000 dollars every year. The lowest paid and the highest paid worker makes a generous annual income.
11. Power Transmission Engineer
Power transmission engineers work in the energy sector and play essential roles in delivering GIS data, survey maps, and anything else that can facilitate electricity transmission to the consumer. They find the best transmission routes for power systems and sites for constructing stations.
For their arduous work, power transmission engineers make 70000 to 115,000 dollars every twelve months. Hence, a Power transmission engineer is one of the best paying jobs in public utilities in the US.
12. Transmission engineer
A transmission engineer works in the energy sector or media broadcasting companies. They enjoy one of the well known jobs in the public utilities sector because they earn around 80,000 to 111,500 dollars per annum.
Transmission engineer assists their employer do critical roles depending on the industry they join. If they are in the TV broadcasting sector, they will eliminate technical hitches from the transmission networks. Hence, they have ample knowledge of the transmission machinery to monitor the inputs and outputs.
Transmission engineers working for the energy sector get vacancies in power and lighting companies. As you can guess, they assess transmission equipment to ensure consumers get ample power. These engineers can also design and implement power generation systems for renewable energy companies. Hence, they boast one of the best paying jobs in public utilities.
A slightly related professional is a transmission line engineer. Transmission line engineers also work in the energy sector or telecommunication industry. They make 81,000 to 105,000 dollars and boast one of the best paying jobs in public utilities.
They work with CAD (Computer Aided Design) software to make design plans for the projects they have won via a bidding process. If you can work as a transmission line engineer or public utilities a good career path may be ideal for you.
13. Power Distribution Engineer
A power distribution engineer makes a handsome annual salary like other engineers. Nevertheless, the distribution engineer’s salary ranges between 79,500 to 101,500 dollars. It is slightly smaller than that of other engineers we have on this list.
As a distribution engineer, your job is to create and maintain electrical distribution equipment. Hence, your employer can ask you to develop electrical wiring procedures and give technical guidance to technical workers.
Power distribution engineers understand safety codes and regulation standards workers should follow when running electrical systems. In project development, distribution engineers can estimate timelines and make reports, explain the test criteria, and install new electrical systems.
Is it Easy to Work in the Public Utility Sector?
First, you need to know if you qualify for any of the best paying jobs in public utilities. After selecting the job, you want, follow the correct registration protocol. The first thing is to become a registered worker with the Public Utilities Commission. The requisite for the registration process is a high school diploma or its equivalent. This is the least education requirement you can have.
Another thing that will help you qualify is attaining a good criminal record after a thorough background check. After becoming a registered civil servant, use your registration number to apply for the best paying jobs in public utilities.
Fill out an application form online and send it with your resume. Before applying, review the salaries for the positions you want. For instance, installing solar panels salary was $55,760 per year in 2020. It is necessary to know if you want to join the renewable energy sector.
Wrapping Up
Working in the public utility sector can be fun, secure, and rewarding. With some lucrative opportunities and above-average salaries, they offer the best paying jobs in public utilities. It is a very wise choice if you’re looking to make a career in this industry.
Above we’ve provided some of the great options for you. Explore all of the options mentioned above, find out which job looks interesting to you, and do your own research to set your career in the right direction.
FAQ
1. What Utility Jobs Pay the Most?
As per our list above, the highest-paid worker in the public utility sector is a Water Resource Specialist. They make $272,000 every year.
2. What is the Highest Paid Public Service Job?
In the US, the highest-paid civil servant is his Excellency the President. He makes $400,000 every twelve months.
3. Why Do Public Servants Make So Much Money?
There are two reasons why public servants in the US have the best paying jobs in public utilities and other sectors make a lot of money every year. First, they have joined reliable labor unions to fight for their rights. Secondly, these civil servants get regular salary raises based on the years they have worked and other factors.
4. What is a Utility Worker?
This is an employee who has a registration number from the US Public Utilities Commission. They use it to apply for the best paying jobs in public utilities. Utility workers can be professional engineers working for companies in the nuclear, radiation, electricity, telecommunication, and TV broadcasting sectors. They can also be kitchen utility workers doing simple chores like beverage and food preparation and cookery.
