He joined the University of Saskatchewan as an assistant professor in 1964, after working in the System Planning and Production Divisions of Manitoba Hydro.

[34][35][36][37] Billinton has made a significant contribution to the development and application of quantitative techniques for past performance and predictive assessment of power system reliability.

[42] These models were applied to evaluate the benefits of spare transformers and mercury arc valves in high voltage direct current transmission converter stations, such as those being considered by Manitoba Hydro for their Nelson River development.

One important area of research that arose from earlier studies at Manitoba Hydro was the recognition and need to quantitatively evaluate the operating risk associated with adding large generating units to a relatively small electric power utility.

Considerable progress has been made in incorporating the inherent variability associated with wind power in both generating capacity adequacy and security evaluation.

[46][47] One of the most visible areas of Billinton's research is that of reliability cost/worth evaluation involving customer power interruption costs.

[48][49][50] This research extends the calculation of conventional reliability indices to include customer damage in the form of increased monetary costs due to power supply failures.

[57] Billinton's research work and related industrial activities have provided considerable assistance in the development of models, methods and standards for component and system reliability assessment.

[59] Billinton has provided consulting services to all the major Canadian electric power utilities and many other organizations around the world.

He joined the IEEE Application of Probability Methods (APM) Subcommittee in 1964 and subsequently served a three-year term as its chairman.

He has been involved in the development and subsequent creation of three important standards in the area of power system reliability assessment.

He is a founding member of the CEA Consultative Committee on Outage Statistics and served as its chair for over twenty-five years.

[71][72] The ERIS and EPSRA methodologies developed for collecting data using a common set of definitions are now accepted as Canadian electric power industry standards.