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Power plant operator vs power technician

The differences between power plant operators and power technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a power technician has an average salary of $57,396, which is higher than the $49,204 average annual salary of a power plant operator.

The top three skills for a power plant operator include plant equipment, steam boilers and auxiliary equipment. The most important skills for a power technician are OSHA, hand tools, and PLC.

Power plant operator vs power technician overview

Power Plant OperatorPower Technician
Yearly salary$49,204$57,396
Hourly rate$23.66$27.59
Growth rate-15%-15%
Number of jobs40,71926,150
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 36%Associate Degree, 32%
Average age4646
Years of experience--

Power plant operator vs power technician salary

Power plant operators and power technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

Power Plant OperatorPower Technician
Average salary$49,204$57,396
Salary rangeBetween $35,000 And $67,000Between $32,000 And $101,000
Highest paying CityMinneapolis, MN-
Highest paying stateAlaska-
Best paying companyOrange County Sanitation District-
Best paying industryUtilities-

Differences between power plant operator and power technician education

There are a few differences between a power plant operator and a power technician in terms of educational background:

Power Plant OperatorPower Technician
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 36%Associate Degree, 32%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringElectrical Engineering
Most common college--

Power plant operator vs power technician demographics

Here are the differences between power plant operators' and power technicians' demographics:

Power Plant OperatorPower Technician
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 94.9% Female, 5.1%Male, 95.1% Female, 4.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 1.5% White, 77.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.5%Black or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% Asian, 1.5% White, 76.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.4%
LGBT Percentage5%5%

Differences between power plant operator and power technician duties and responsibilities

Power plant operator example responsibilities.

  • Manage and perform preventive maintenance, electrical repairs, millwright work, and MSHA safety functions.
  • Process operator in the powerhouse.
  • Develop and assist regional groups with desk operating procedures for NERC compliance standards.
  • Control and maintain auxiliary equipment, such as pumps, fans, compressors and condensers.
  • Perform various aspects of preventive maintenance and troubleshooting on HVAC systems; 300 to 1500 tons.
  • Repair and perform complete rebuilds on various valves, actuators, pumps, compressors, large fans, gearboxes etc.
  • Show more

Power technician example responsibilities.

  • Perform trouble shooting of equipment such as rectifiers, disconnects and battery plants.
  • Specialize in maintenance testing and repair of automatic transfer switches, low and medium voltage distribution equipment.
  • Repair automatic transfer switches at different sites throughout the state.
  • Install alternating current applications such as rectifiers, environmental circuits, etc.
  • Install, configure and troubleshoot LTE, UMTS wireless systems on ATT and Verizon network.
  • Perform installation, upgrades and reconfiguration to integrate UMTS 850/1900 and LTE 700/1900/AWS into existing UMTS/CDMA sites.
  • Show more

Power plant operator vs power technician skills

Common power plant operator skills
  • Plant Equipment, 9%
  • Steam Boilers, 8%
  • Auxiliary Equipment, 7%
  • Plant Operations, 5%
  • Cooling Towers, 5%
  • Condensers, 5%
Common power technician skills
  • OSHA, 17%
  • Hand Tools, 12%
  • PLC, 10%
  • Electrical Distribution, 8%
  • A/C, 6%
  • Safety Procedures, 5%

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