SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced plans to extend its highly successful PowerPathway™ training program to include a first-ever cohort of active-duty service members. Participants will receive training in gas and electric operations, with PG&E committed to hiring eight of the 15 graduates.

This new training effort will be launched in early 2016 at Bates Technical College in Tacoma, Wash. The program will be exclusively for service members stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), a U.S. Army-U.S. Air Force installation located south of Tacoma.

“This effort builds on the tremendous success we’ve had in training veterans for careers in the utility industry. By opening the PowerPathway program to active-duty members of the military, we’re providing veterans with a critical tool to help them hit the ground running upon joining the civilian ranks,” said Tony Earley, PG&E Corporation chairman, CEO and president.

The cohort will include 15 military personnel who are close to separating from active duty. Participants will learn basic principles of gas and electric operations, such as safety practices in the utility industry, basic electricity theory, natural gas system overview, traffic control and soft skills.

The JBLM PowerPathway cohort will be fully funded by a federal grant from Camo2Commerce, a program of the Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council. Camo2Commerce is an organization that provides opportunities for career development and jobs to service members transitioning from JBLM into civilian life.

External utility partners in the cohort include Avista Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, Centralia City Light, PG&E, Tacoma Power and IBEW Local 77. Educational participants consist of Bates Technical College and the Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy.

PG&E’s PowerPathway program was launched in 2008 as a way to develop the next generation of the utility industry workforce. The PowerPathway training network is comprised of community colleges, community organizations, workforce investment boards, university and educational partners who collaborate with PG&E to provide training.

In PowerPathway’s seven-year history, nearly 800 people have graduated—including 400 veterans. More than 80 percent of graduates have been hired by PG&E or others in the utility industry.

PowerPathway has received national recognition for its efforts in training veterans for a civilian career. For example, Vice President Biden called out the program during a visit to a veterans-only training class in Oakland earlier this year. The utility also earned the Faraday Award at this year’s Electric Power Conference for its success with PowerPathway.

In addition, the program recently graduated its first active military member and honored its initial direct-to-hire PowerPathway class for customer service representatives. The class, consisting solely of 17 veterans, was held in Fresno as part of the company’s initiative to address the area’s long-term unemployment situation.

PG&E’s support of veterans dates back to World War I. The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) honored PG&E this year for its support of employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. The utility has been ranked among the Top-100 Military Friendly Employers for the last three years by G.I. Jobs Magazine. In June, PG&E unveiled the “1,000 Careers Project.” This long-term career hiring program has the goal of hiring 1,000 veterans into PG&E careers over the next eight years.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

http://www.pgecurrents.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pacificgasandelectric
https://twitter.com/pge4me
http://www.linkedin.com/company/pacific-gas-and-electric-company
http://www.youtube.com/user/pgevideo

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151109006402/en/

Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company