Wheatland Electric's long-standing apprenticeship training program won a 2023 Kansas Business Award earlier this year.

When Rick Klaus served as a foreman in 1990, he was asked to become an instructor in Wheatland Electric’s apprenticeship program. 

It was an honor, Klaus said, because instructors in those days were higher up the career ladder. Today, Klaus, who serves as WEC’s director of operations, said he can count at least 42 students who have obtained their journeyman lineman status under his instruction. 

“I learned so much more by teaching it,” he said, recalling his time at the front of the classroom. “Today my former students are servicemen, area wide supervisors, and district managers … it’s a good feeling!” 

Since at least the mid-1970s, WEC has successfully administered a formal apprenticeship program to train our lineworkers from the ground up — providing classroom instruction on power line safety, construction, and maintenance from qualified veteran lineworkers and coupling that knowledge with real-world experience in the field.

Most employees who work at an electric cooperative like WEC are lineworkers, employees who construct and maintain electric distribution power lines and substations, oftentimes braving the wrath of Mother Nature to make emergency repairs and restore power. 

Lineworkers begin this professional journey as either a groundman (with no previous experience) or a first-year apprentice lineman, those who typically have a year’s worth of schooling from a vocational or technical college or a year’s worth of industry experience under their belt. 

From there, apprentice linemen must complete four years of weekly, yearlong classroom instruction and book work and nearly 7,000 hours of on-the-job training — not to mention annual written and oral examinations — to earn their journeyman status. 

Many electric cooperatives provide apprenticeship training to build and retain their employees, but what makes WEC’s program unique is our JOINT APPRENTICE TRAINING COMMITTEE, according to Klaus. 

Known as the JATC, the internal committee comprises eight members, four from labor and four from management, who test each apprentice’s knowledge, skill 
and judgement prior to his or her promotion from year to year. 

“They’re hit with a variety of questions they might get in real life … from their manager or from a [co-op] member,” Klaus added. 

Because of the physical and financial investment WEC makes in its apprentices, our electric cooperative has built a statewide reputation of training and maintaining highly qualified apprentices. 

That reputation was recently honored at the 2023 KANSAS BUSINESS AWARDS, hosted by the Kansas Department of Commerce, which recognizes entities throughout the state for “the valuable contributions they make to the Kansas economy and for the positive impact they make in their communities.” 

In 2022, the program introduced a new category — Apprenticeship Champions and Partners — recognizing companies and other entities that excel at providing registered apprenticeship programs throughout the state. 

Several WEC representatives attended the awards banquet held in Wichita on Oct. 12 to be recognized as a nominee in this category and celebrate our program’s impact on the local southwest and central Kansas economy. 

“Our apprenticeship training program is a team effort,” Klaus said, adding that there have been many excellent WEC instructors over the years who have built much of the linework team WEC still employs today. “To be recognized for this program is long overdue.” 

In addition to WEC’s lineman apprenticeship program, our cooperative also provides two additional apprenticeship programs: substation and meter technician. 

Lineworkers with an interest in substation maintenance — managing large power transformers or programming controls — or metering can also become a journeyman in these areas after earning their journeyman lineman status. 

While this coursework is shorter, taking approximately three additional years to complete, earning these credentials give lineworkers additional industry-wide exposure.

“It’s also our downfall,” Klaus said. WEC’s reputation for highly skilled and well-trained apprentices means increased competition from larger utilities when WEC apprentices complete the program. 

That’s part of the reason WEC welcomes the recognition from state officials. “To be recognized for something you’re passionate about is very rewarding,” Klaus said. “We know we have a great program — what’s wrong with letting the rest of the state know?”