#ThankALineman Today

#ThankALineman Today

Every day our linemen and women are up bright and early preparing to conquer the day. They strap on their boots, jump in their utility bucket trucks and head into work where they are tasked with keeping the lights on for 3.6 million residents living in San Diego and southern Orange Counties.

Today, on National Lineman Appreciation Day, we are honoring and expressing our utmost gratitude to the great men and women whose job frequently requires them to respond on all days of the year to emergencies and power outages. Climbing up and down poles day in and day out to build and maintain electrical systems is a tough and at times dangerous work, and we appreciate all that they to power our region.

Linemen in Training

Linemen working for SDG&E come from all walks of life, and must successfully pass rigorous training and tests. Some enter our apprentice program fresh out of high school while others started their career with the military and are transitioning to civilian careers.

This week, we visited our current Linemen Pole Climbing Class to tip our hats to those who are linemen “in training.” They are dedicating years to learning one of the most respected trades in history. The current class will spend approximately four years training as an apprentice and master skills like safely working with power lines and climbing poles. Once they have completed their training course, they will successfully become journeymen/lineman and qualified to work on power systems. 

Taught by industry veteran, instructors are proud to see this class carry the torch.

Linemen by the Numbers

Our nearly 200 linemen and women work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to ensure that every resident and business has safe and reliable energy. Working on 20,000 miles of transmission and distribution wires in roughly 4,100 miles of territory, our linemen and women are truly our home town heroes.

Here are some quick facts and a glance at how our workforce contributes to the national brotherhood of electrical line workers.

  • The Power Lineman Trade began in 1879 with the invention of the Edison lightbulb.
  • There are currently 115,000 linemen in the United States.
  • The first lineman in the U.S. was Ezra Cornell, who built the Morse Telegraph line and later founded Cornell University.
  • Henry Miller was founder and first president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
  • There are 2.7 million transmission towers in service in the U.S.
  • There is an estimated 155,000,000 electric customers in the U.S.
  • Linemen and women manage 9 million miles of wire in services in the U.S. and carry 30 lbs. of tools and equipment while climbing poles.

We encourage you to take to social media and tell us how you #ThankALineman. And, if you’re interested in working as a lineman, apply with SDG&E today! We’re hiring individuals who would like to carry on our 137-year proud tradition of keeping the lights on for millions in our community.