How To Become A Utility Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a utility engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Kambiz Farahmand Ph.D., P.E.

Utility engineers work in the energy industry, including electricity, gas, and water, where they help monitor and create more efficient forms of energy. They help industrial companies manage their energy resources by measuring the amount of energy released and identifying ways to reduce waste.

They maintain an accurate level of energy distribution that can sustain commercial operations by conducting numerous quality checks to ensure efficiency and stability. Additionally, they design, implement and maintain utility infrastructures, such as water or gas mains, electrical grids, and other types of delivery systems.

Qualifications for this job include a bachelor's degree in civil engineering or a related field and a minimum of two years of experience. Having professional certifications is a plus. Communication, maths, problem-solving, analytical, and leadership skills are important for this job. Utility engineers earn around $73,475 per year or $35.32 per hour. Their salary ranges between $54,000 and $98,000.

What general advice would you give to a utility engineer?

Kambiz Farahmand Ph.D., P.E.

Professor and Interim Chair, Website

After you proved yourself to your peers and supervisors, you can always ask your price. Otherwise, there are a lot of other companies that will meet your ask and value your abilities.

ScoreUtility EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.0

Avg. Salary $76,349

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 10.19%

Black or African American 3.50%

Hispanic or Latino 9.77%

Unknown 4.62%

White 71.81%

Gender

female 8.78%

male 91.22%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a utility engineer

Explore utility engineer education requirements

Most common utility engineer degrees

Bachelor's

59.5 %

Master's

11.6 %

Associate

11.2 %

Start to develop specific utility engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
HVAC	10.07%
Autocad	7.11%
Plumbing	7.08%
Project Management	6.37%
SUE	6.24%

Complete relevant utility engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New utility engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a utility engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real utility engineer resumes.

Research utility engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
Repair and troubleshoot problems with A/C units and plumbing (shower, sink toilets in the hotel )
Convert 2D and 3D AutoCAD information into solid models.
Perform processing area layouts and storage equipment layouts design using 3D AutoCAD.

Prepare your utility engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your utility engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a utility engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable utility engineer resume templates

Build a professional utility engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your utility engineer resume.