Seattle is one of the few major American cities where the utility is municipal, not investor-owned: Seattle City Light runs its own hydro generation and its own line crews. Average lineman pay here runs about $102,450 a year, well above the national median. Before you can work a utility crew as an apprentice in Washington, the state requires an electrical trainee card in your wallet.
City-owned, hydro-backed, and the anchor employer for distribution and transmission inside the city.
Covers Bellevue, Kent and most suburban territory outside City Light's boundary.
Longtime regional line contractor working across the Puget Sound corridor.
National contractor staffing capital and storm work through its Northwest subsidiaries.
A muni and an IOU sitting side by side means two different hiring processes in the same commute radius; the muni versus IOU hiring differences are worth knowing before you apply to both. Tacoma, Everett, Bellevue and Kent all pull from the same labor pool, so a Seattle-area resume travels.
Washington's electrical trainee card is a state requirement, not a utility preference. Apprentices working utility crews need it on file, which puts a paperwork step between you and your first day that most states do not have. Plan for it while you are testing into an IBEW outside lineman apprenticeship.