The United States is commencing its largest power infrastructure construction and grid modernization in years, with all-time-high investment. In 2024, electric utilities invested a record $174–179 billion, 42% of which was allocated to transmission and distribution systems. Investor-owned utilities alone added another $178 billion to the system. According to the 2026 Power and Utilities Industry Outlook report from Deloitte, plans for 2025-2029 include more than $1.1 trillion in additional capital expenditures.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, along with state-level clean energy incentives, are incentivizing grid investment through tax incentives and funding.

This investment is driven by need, due to aging infrastructure, rapid artificial intelligence and cloud computing growth, heavy data center consumption, accelerating renewable energy integration and extreme weather that requires electricity resilience. The transition to clean energy has increased grid investment as wind and solar overtook coal for the first time in 2024 with a record 17% of U.S. electricity.

Much of the U.S. grid was built in the 1960s and 1970s and has already outlived its 40-year lifespan by nearly 20 years, necessitating replacement. Utilities are responding by building infrastructure that connect generation to load, not just new power plants.

Investment means jobs. In 2024, transmission, distribution and storage employed around 1.46 million workers. This sector’s unemployment rate is below 2%, indicating substantial demand for workers.

As contractors today enter into large, multiyear agreements with utilities and face bigger backlogs, the demand for specialty skills in high-voltage line work, undergrounding and substation construction increases. So does job security. The guarantee provided by long-term contracts encourages contractors to pay more and offer better benefits to entice workers.

As demand for workers increases, so, too, does the salary offered. Utility contractor salaries have jumped nearly 25% from 2019 to 2024, according to the Utility Expo’s 2026 Economic Outlook for the Utility Industry. Electrical contractors enjoy a median annual salary near $60,000, which is above the national median. The energy sector’s median wage was nearly 19% higher than the U.S. median.

Specialized transmission lineworkers and substation technicians earn higher rates, particularly for high-voltage work requiring specialized certifications. And some geographic regions, such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, pay up to 60% above national averages for specialized utility work.

With utilities committed to over $1 trillion in planned spending through 2029, according to data from the Edison Electric Institute, there’s more incentive for contractors to invest in apprenticeships, training and upskilling for lineworkers, substation technicians and project managers to develop a workforce pipeline.