Muni Work Compared To Large Companies

[freshjive]

Just wondering what a day or week at a muni consists of..Do they just do routine maintenance xformers, services, streetlights, etc? It seems like most of the munis have fairly new systems that are mostly spacer cable(at least in my neck of the woods)... At the Big Companies they do huge jobs, or contract them out..Just wondering if the munis do their own big jobs or is it contracted work as well...I ask this because I'm interested in eventually working at a municipality...What are their days like vs. a company like NSTAR? I know they have a good retirement package etc..I beleive most are union of some sort too...ANy help feedback would be appreciated.
thanx

[loodvig]

You just can't get the MUNI out of your mind can you? You better look into that retirement a little closer.

[Lineman North Florida]

At the municipality that I work at we do everything except bury conduit for UG and directional bores. We re-conductor feeders, change out poles, transformers,make-up UG and take care of our transmission work, we used to bury our own conduit but the company said it was cheaper to contract it out. I am sure municipalities are different every where you go as far as how much of their work they do versus contract out.

[Pootnaigle]

Usta be around here that only one of the 2 guys on a service crew could be a Journeyman. The other was an apprentice until someone quit or retired and made him a spot. Didnt matter if you were doing the work everyday for years , If you wernt the senior man you were the ape. That may have changed by now I dunno But I would damn sure find out before I went to work for em.Last muni guy I talked with told me they were taking hits on stuff like insurance and retirement benefits.

[freshjive]

Thanks for the inpuit, I live in MA so i'm not sure how it differs, but I know a lot of them do their own UG wiork(elbows, terminators, etc.) as well as overhead stuff..where I work we have different depts UG overhead, and substation..I think it'd be good to gain a little knowledge of UG work as well...I know most munis round here dont have a ton of it, but they do have some UG work...Actually they have a lot of URD stuff...

[Perk]

I work for a muni and have 8 mos. remaining in my apprenticeship. I've never worked for a contract company or a co-op, etc. so I can't compare. In the labs I go to through TVPPA I come in contact w a lot of guys who work for co-ops, I'm often the only one in my classes working for a muni. In talking to them it seems my muni offers better pay & benefits. We are union, IBEW local 760 in Knoxville, Tn. and the co-op guys are rarely, if ever union.

As far as work, we do all aspects of distribution construction/maintenance. We used to contract some "big" jobs w/ Dillard-Smith but haven't for some time, I guess because of trying to save money. Right now my crew and another are converting a 336 3 phase line to a 795 double circuit, paralleling substations, & setting about 20 steel poles.

We have four line crews, no more than 6 men, no fewer than 4, usually and three service crews w/ a lineman and groundman. Line crews doing all primary & secondary construction/maintenance and service crews doing only secondary hook-ups, disconnects, night lights, etc.

We have a 7200 Y system w/ 10 substations and I think 40,000 or so customers w/ a mix of rural, residential & commercial, serving parts of three counties. Still have some poles on our system from the 30's when power was first brought to the area.

Like somebody else said, the only thing we don't do is bury UG conduit.

Can't speak for all muni's but ours is very political, you don't get hired unless you have a city councilman, mayor, the General Manager, etc. recommending you in a council meeting. And btw, our General Manager is the father-in-law of the Mayor.

[bobbo]

I know that your area might be different. Everybody is set up different. I have worked quite a bit REAs Munis and such as temp hire or on the construction ( contractor ) side. One place I just watched the foremans hunting videos for two weeks and did a few locates in between. I was just so bored there. Other places we worked hard, from URD to replacing new overhead. Just ask around and talked to the older lineman that have been around a few places that know real work is; not three county boomers that were raised on a one way street and do things one way. It all depends, there was this idea in the early 90s and late 80s to do more with fewer. If they hold that mentality then you will be doing a variety of things.