Electrical Power Industry Award.

Electrical Power Industry Award 2020 (MA000088) covers electricity generation, electricity transmission and distribution, electricity retail, brown coal mining, processing and treatment for power generation and related industries. Common roles include power station and control room operation, lines, cable and substation trades, meter reading and customer service, engineering design and technical work. Full-time hours under this award are 37.5 a week, not 38 (clause 9), and the hourly rates on this page are the weekly rate divided by 37.5, which is how Schedule B of the award prints them. The Saturday 150%, Sunday 200% and public holiday 250% rates are paid on ordinary hours (clause 20). A day worker's ordinary hours run from 7.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday unless a majority of affected employees agree another span (clause 13.1(a)), so weekend work by a day worker is normally overtime: 150% for the first 2 hours then 200% on a Saturday, 200% on a Sunday and 250% on a public holiday, with a 3 hour minimum (clauses 19.1 and 19.2). Continuous shiftworkers get 200% for all overtime Monday to Saturday (clause 19.1). The afternoon (116%) and night (122.5%) loadings apply where more than one third of rostered ordinary hours are on that shift, and 130% applies where you work only night shift (clause 20). Casual penalty rates add the 25% loading (Schedule B.2), but the casual loading is not paid on overtime (clause 19.4). Personal/carer's leave is 12 days a year, including the NES entitlement (clause 22.2). Two oddities in the pay table on this page come from the award itself. Pay level 1 has two rates: Technical Grade 1 at $997.20, below the National Minimum Wage weekly figure, with its structured training to be completed within 3 months of appointment (Schedule A.2.1), and Administrative Grade 1 at $1,004.90. Pay level 9 has a rate, but no grade is named at that level anywhere in the award. Contractors covered by the Electrical Contracting Award, the Building & Construction Award or the Mobile Crane Hiring Award, and their employees, are excluded (clause 4.3(a)), and so is generation that is only ancillary or incidental to a business in another industry (clause 4.2(e)).

Full-time and part-time employees are paid 150% of the base hourly rate (1.50x) for working on Saturday. Casuals receive 175% (the FT rate plus the 25% casual loading). Not every Saturday hour is paid at that rate: Saturday overtime for a day worker, first 2 hours, 150% or 150% for a casual (clauses 13.1(a), 19.1 and 19.2, with no casual loading on overtime under clause 19.4); Saturday overtime for a day worker, after 2 hours, 200% or 200% for a casual (clauses 13.1(a), 19.1 and 19.2, with no casual loading on overtime under clause 19.4).

FT/PT employees are paid 200% of the base hourly rate (2.00x) for Sunday work. Casuals receive 225% (the FT rate plus the 25% casual loading).

FT/PT employees who work on a gazetted public holiday are paid 250% of the base hourly rate (2.50x). Casuals receive 275% (the FT rate plus the 25% casual loading). Employees who don't work the holiday receive their ordinary day's pay if it would otherwise have been a working day.

Standard full-time employees get 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year under the NES. An employee who works a roster that may include ordinary shifts on any of the 7 days of the week, and who is regularly rostered to work on Sundays and public holidays, is a shiftworker for the NES and gets a 5th week of annual leave (clause 21.2). Both limbs are required. Their excessive leave accrual threshold is 10 weeks instead of 8 (clause 21.5(a)). The 5-week entitlement comes from NES s.87(1)(b), which the Electrical Power Industry Award classifies eligibility for. Calculate annual leave accrual →

Day workers get the greater of 17.5% or the weekend penalty rates they would have earned during the leave, not both. Shift workers get the greater of 17.5% or the weekend and shift penalties they would have earned. The 17.5% is calculated on your weekly rate including appropriate allowances, excluding shift penalties and weekend penalty payments (clause 21.3(b)(i)). Allowances you receive on a continuous basis also keep being paid during the leave (clause 21.3(a)). Leave loading calculator →

25% on top of the base hourly rate, paid in place of entitlements a casual does not get, such as paid annual leave and paid personal/carer's leave. Casual loading is added to the FT/PT rate for Saturday, Sunday, public holidays, afternoon or evening shifts, night shifts and permanent night shifts.

Yes. At the employer's discretion, a day worker's ordinary hours can be worked as a 10 day fortnight of 7 hours 30 minutes a day, or a 9 day fortnight of 8 hours 20 minutes a day with a rostered day off (clause 13.1(d)). Where an RDO falls on a public holiday, the next working day or part-day is substituted, or another day or part-day by written agreement (clause 26.2(c)). RDOs are paid days off, distinct from annual leave; they exist to balance ordinary hours over a fixed period. If you are paid out on termination, accrued RDO time is typically included.

Yes. Under this award, evening work on afternoon shifts (finishing after 6.00pm and at or before midnight, not 12 hour shifts) where more than one third of rostered ordinary hours are afternoon shifts attracts 116% of the base hourly rate (1.16x); night-shift work attracts 122.5% of the base hourly rate (1.23x); permanent night shift attracts 130% of the base hourly rate (1.30x). For casuals, the 25% casual loading is added on top of these penalty rates.

The Fair Work Commission reviews award minimum rates each year in the Annual Wage Review. The rates on this page took effect from 1 July 2026. The official source is the FWO Pay Calculator, which always reflects the current rates. Open the FWO Pay Calculator →