The utilities industry looks after the delivery of water, electricity, and natural gas to your home as well as the disposal of sewage. As of August 2015, Alberta had 26,000 kilometres of transmission lines. This is more than four times the distance between Edmonton and St. John’s Newfoundland. While most of the province's installed electricity-generation capacity is currently from coal and natural gas, it also uses water, wind, waste heat, and livestock manure to generate electricity.
Gross domestic product (GDP) measures the overall size of an economy. In 2015, the utilities industry made up 1.4% of Alberta's GDP. This is a 0.4% reduction from 2013.
The utilities industry employed 19,800 people in 2016. This is a decrease of 400 jobs or 2.0% from 2015.
| Utilities Average Hourly Wage | $42.37 |
|---|---|
| Provincial Average Hourly Wage | $29.06 |
Between 2014 and 2015, the number of all electricity customers, including residential, farm, commercial, and industrial, rose by 38,253 to a total of 1,738,179. During the same period, power usage for all customers dropped from 54,131 gigawatt-hours (GwH) to 54,877 GwH. Capital investment in this industry dropped from $4.1 billion in January 2015 to $3.9 billion a year later. This drop was due to the economic downturn and the relatively mild winter in 2015.
The province's 2015 Climate Leadership Plan outlined policies to limit coal usage, which effectively phased out coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. The plan also includes polices to triple renewable energy so that it will supply 30.0% of generation by 2030. The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) predicts this will likely happen with new wind-generation facilities. The organization also forecasts that electricity consumption will increase as the economy rebounds. By 2018, more electricity generation will be needed as new oil sand projects come on line and oil production increases.
Employment in this industry is expected to grow at an average rate of 1.2% from 2016 to 2019.
OCCinfo has more information about occupations in Alberta, including details about duties, working conditions, educational requirements, employment outlook, and salary ranges. You can also find reports on region-specific information about wages, job vacancies, and hiring difficulties in this industry. Visit the Survey Analysis to learn more.
