Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay
Inspect, test, repair, or maintain electrical equipment in generating stations, substations, and in-service relays.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Equipment Maintenance
- Repairing
- Troubleshooting
- Reading Comprehension
- Operations Monitoring
- Quality Control Analysis
- Active Listening
Key knowledge
- Mechanical
- Mathematics
- Engineering and Technology
- Public Safety and Security
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Design
- Physics
What the work involves
- Inspect and test equipment and circuits to identify malfunctions or defects, using wiring diagrams and testing devices such as ohmmeters, voltmeters, or ammeters.
- Consult manuals, schematics, wiring diagrams, and engineering personnel to troubleshoot and solve equipment problems and to determine optimum equipment functioning.
- Notify facility personnel of equipment shutdowns.
- Open and close switches to isolate defective relays, performing adjustments or repairs.
- Prepare and maintain records detailing tests, repairs, and maintenance.
- Analyze test data to diagnose malfunctions, to determine performance characteristics of systems, or to evaluate effects of system modifications.
- Repair, replace, and clean equipment and components such as circuit breakers, brushes, and commutators.
- Run signal quality and connectivity tests for individual cables, and record results.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Secondary Certificate (50.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (34.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (53%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 79% of occupations compared | 75% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 81% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 82% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 88% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 74% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 50% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 54% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 97% of occupations compared | 85% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 2.04%
- Contact with others most of the time: 22.99%
- Constant contact with others: 74.97%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 44.06%
- Fairly important: 9.15%
- Important: 18.81%
- Very important: 6.77%
- Extremely important: 21.21%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 12.81%
- Very important: 13.52%
- Extremely important: 73.67%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 8.16%
- Very little freedom: 13.35%
- Limited freedom: 19.95%
- Some freedom: 36.09%
- A lot of freedom: 22.45%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 56.97%
- Every day: 30.04%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 13.62%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 23.08%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 32.52%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.02%
- Every day: 3.75%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 17.84%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 32.97%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.81%
- Every day: 9.66%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 8.55%
- Fairly serious: 1.08%
- Serious: 2.04%
- Very serious: 3.2%
- Extremely serious: 85.14%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 49-2095.00 · SOC 49-2095 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8