Pay & Wages
TransGrid Pay Rates 2026: EA Pay Levels & Award Floor
What TransGrid workers should be paid in 2026 — the Electrical Power Industry Award floor by classification, casual loading, penalties, and where the TransGrid enterprise agreements sit.
Who covers TransGrid workers — award or agreement?
TransGrid owns and operates the high-voltage transmission network across New South Wales and the ACT, and is building the big interconnector and renewable-zone projects that connect new generation to the grid. Its workforce is linespeople, substation technicians, network operators, engineers and project staff.
TransGrid's pay is set by its enterprise agreement (below), negotiated with the electrical and professional unions. The federal safety net is the Electrical Power Industry Award 2020, whose pay-level ladder is tabled below; agreement rates for trades and network roles sit well above it.
The federal awards relevant to TransGrid roles:
- Electrical Power Industry Award 2020 (MA000088)
Electrical power award floor (1 July 2026)
The Electrical Power Industry Award 2020 (MA000088) uses common pay levels across its operations, technical, administrative and professional streams:
| Classification | Permanent | Casual (incl. 25%) |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Grade 1 (entry) | $26.59/hr | $33.24/hr |
| Administrative Grade 1 (entry) | $26.80/hr | $33.50/hr |
| Pay level 2 (operations/technical/admin grade 2) | $28.22/hr | $35.27/hr |
| Pay level 3 (grade 3 — trades assistant, field worker) | $29.86/hr | $37.33/hr |
| Pay level 4 (grade 4) | $32.69/hr | $40.86/hr |
| Pay level 5 (grade 5 — qualified tradesperson, linesperson) | $35.58/hr | $44.47/hr |
| Pay level 6 (grade 6) | $38.45/hr | $48.06/hr |
| Pay level 7 (grade 7) | $41.33/hr | $51.66/hr |
| Pay level 8 (grade 8) | $44.21/hr | $55.26/hr |
| Pay level 9 (grade 9) | $47.09/hr | $58.86/hr |
Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.
The TransGrid enterprise agreements
Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current TransGrid agreements in our corpus (2 in total):
- TRANSGRID WORKPLACE DETERMINATION 2025 — approved May 2025, nominal expiry 1 March 2027.
- Application by NSW Electricity Networks Operations Pty Limited as Trustee for NSW Electricity Networks Operations Trust T/A Transgrid - [2025] FWCFB 73 — approved April 2025, nominal expiry 29 July 2017.
We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.
Electricity pay issues worth checking on any payslip
General award-compliance issues that come up across the electricity sector. This is a checklist for your own payslip, not a finding about TransGrid:
- Agreement pay levels not stepping up with qualifications and competencies.
- On-call, call-out and standby allowances missed or under-paid.
- Travel time to remote sites unpaid.
- Overtime during storm and outage response paid at the wrong rate.
What to do if your pay looks wrong
Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.
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FairWork Mate is an independent Australian publisher of workplace-rights information. Our content is prepared with AI assistance and draws on primary sources — the Fair Work Act, modern awards, and Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman material. It is general information, not legal advice.