PEC Technical Training Center Turns Five Years Old
Since opening in 2020, PEC’s Technical Training Center has delivered best-in-class instruction to lineworkers with state-of-the-art curriculum, facilities, and equipment. The center is the result of a vision first outlined in 2012, when PEC launched its 8,000-hour, Department of Labor-recognized Lineworker Apprenticeship Program.
Technical Training Director James Vasquez, who began his career as a PEC lineworker, has led the effort to build and expand the center.
“I’d seen what Northwest Lineman College was doing compared to what we were doing out in the field, and the consistency with the knowledge transfer and the techniques was there,” Vasquez said. “I felt that it would benefit the Co-op if we had such a facility here and put the ‘PEC Blue’ touch on it.”
Since then, the training center has reflected PEC’s commitment to preparing lineworkers for the field. It’s a place where apprentices can learn the basics, as well as have room to practice more advanced techniques and foster a stronger culture of safety along the way.
“Coming in as a year one apprentice, what you see here is going to be the best practice and in line with what your journeyworkers and fellow lineworkers see in the field,” Technical Training Manager Josh Hanawalt said. “In your training, you are going to get that foundational knowledge in a safe environment.”
Apprentices value the center’s accessibility and variety. Fourth-year apprentice James McCune noted how important the facility has been in his development.
“It’s so accessible for us, and it’s great that I am able to come up here and work on the regulators and capacitors and in a yard that’s built out to where you can really do anything,” McCune said.
The proof of this center’s effectiveness lies in the results achieved by our crews. In these five years, PEC apprentices have excelled at lineworker rodeo competitions, supported technological upgrades, and helped crews complete scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. Their training has contributed to impressive reliability metrics, including outage response times averaging less than an hour per member over a full year, a System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) score of 72 minutes — less than half the average of Texas utilities, and a strong safety record in 2025.
“We all have families, some of us have kids, so the priority is to do everything safely,” Journeyworker Crispen Davis said. “And when we’re safe, it keeps the membership safe as well.”
A major goal for the next five years is to expand the in-house training. By consolidating instruction under one roof, PEC can ensure every lineworker receives consistent, hands-on preparation tailored to the unique challenges of the system and our communities.
These first five years laid a strong foundation for what training will look like at PEC. The next five years will be about expanding that training, raising standards, and keeping safety at the heart of everything we do.
