Delaware · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
Delaware licenses electricians at state level through the Board of Electrical Examiners in the Division of Professional Regulation, under 24 Del. C. Chapter 14. The board licenses the individual by class, from apprentice to master, and requires $300,000 general liability insurance at master and limited level. A separate state business license comes from the Division of Revenue.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Delaware licenses electricians at state level. The Board of Electrical Examiners issues the license, and the board sits inside the Division of Professional Regulation. The statutory authority is 24 Del. C. Chapter 14. The board publishes its own fee schedule, exam page, renewal page and continuing education page, and its rules and regulations sit at Title 24 Chapter 1400 of the Delaware Administrative Code. Sec. 1406(a)(1) gives the board power to formulate rules and regulations under the Administrative Procedures Act, and Sec. 1406(a)(7) gives it power to establish by rule the continuing education standards required for license renewal. That is the structural point a contractor needs. The hour counts, the insurance figure and the continuing education requirement are board rules rather than statute, so they can move without the General Assembly acting. Delaware also splits the credential in two, and this catches people arriving from other states. The Board of Electrical Examiners licenses the person who does the electrical work. It does not license the business. A business that trades in Delaware needs a separate state business license from the Division of Revenue under 30 Del. C. Sec. 2502. Holding a master electrician license does not by itself put you in a position to invoice a customer lawfully. You need both pieces, and they come from two different agencies on two different renewal cycles.
Sourcesdpr.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2delcode.delaware.gov 3
Sec. 1408 sets out the classes and the board lists them on its front page. They are master electrician, limited electrician, master electrician special, limited electrician special, journeyperson electrician, residential electrician, apprentice electrician and school apprentice electrician. Alongside those the board licenses electrical inspection agencies and issues homeowner permits. The split that matters commercially is master against limited. Master electrician is the broad credential. Limited electrician is the reduced one, built on a shorter experience requirement. The two special classes sit beside them and cover named trades rather than general electrical work. Journeyperson electrician and residential electrician are the working classes, earned on hours rather than on supervisory experience. Apprentice and school apprentice sit at the entry point and are the only classes the statute exempts from biennial renewal. The inspection agency license is a separate thing again and is aimed at the firms that perform the statutory inspections rather than at contractors. Delaware does not use the certified against registered structure some states use, and it does not tie a class to a geographic area. One Delaware class works throughout the state. What changes between classes is the scope of work and the experience behind it, not the territory. Choose the class against the work you intend to sell, because moving up later means meeting the higher experience count from scratch.
The master electrician is the six year credential. The board states the requirement as six years full time experience, or four years full time experience under a master electrician together with an official transcript showing two years of technical training. Sec. 1408 carries the same requirement in statutory form and adds an hours based alternative, describing six years full time experience under the supervision of a licensed master electrician, or 8,000 hours plus 576 hours of training, or four years experience plus two years technical training. The limited electrician runs at half that. The board states three years full time experience under a master or limited electrician supervisor. Sec. 1408 gives the hours alternative as 4,000 hours plus 288 hours of training. Read the supervision clause carefully, because it is the part that trips applicants. For the master, the four year route counts only experience gained under a master electrician, not under a limited electrician. For the limited, experience under either a master or a limited electrician counts. An electrician who spent four years working under a limited electrician therefore has a limited path and not a shortened master path. Both classes carry an examination requirement unless the applicant qualifies under the reciprocity route. Both also carry the insurance condition, and neither is issued without proof of general liability insurance of at least $300,000.
Delaware carves named trades out of the general electrical license and gives them their own classes. Master electrician special covers the specialty areas the board lists as electric signs, elevators, HVAC, primary distribution systems, pools and refrigeration. The experience requirement is six years of full time experience in the areas of specialty under master electrician or master electrician special supervision. Limited electrician special is the shorter version and the board lists its specialty areas as HVAC and pools. The experience requirement is three years of full time experience in the areas of specialty under a master electrician or a master or limited electrician special. Both special classes carry the same $300,000 general liability insurance condition as the general classes, and both require an examination unless the applicant qualifies from a substantially similar state. The commercial reading is worth spelling out. A refrigeration or HVAC business that touches electrical work does not have to produce a full master electrician to trade lawfully in Delaware. It can qualify a person in the specialty instead, on specialty experience. The same is true for a sign company, a pool company or an elevator company. The experience has to be in the specialty and under the right supervision, so the years do not transfer freely between general electrical work and a named specialty. Pick the class that matches the work you actually sell.
The working classes are earned on hours rather than on supervisory years. Sec. 1408 sets the journeyperson electrician requirement at over 8,000 hours of full time experience performing electrical work, or completion of an approved apprenticeship program. The residential electrician requirement is over 4,000 hours of full time experience performing electrical work, or completion of a residential apprenticeship. Sec. 1422 covers apprentice electricians and school apprentice electricians, and Sec. 1422A covers residential electricians. Two practical points follow. First, the apprenticeship route is a genuine alternative rather than a formality. An electrician who completed an approved program does not have to reconstruct an hour count. An electrician who did not has to evidence the hours. Second, the journeyperson and residential classes sit outside two requirements that bind the master and limited classes. The board states that journeyman and apprentice holders are exempt from the insurance requirement on renewal, which makes sense because they are not the people carrying the contracting risk. Their continuing education requirement is also lower, at 5 hours against 10 for the master and limited classes. Apprentice and school apprentice classes are the only ones Sec. 1411 exempts from biennial renewal. For a contractor building a crew, this is the cost structure: the master or limited holder carries the insurance and the heavier continuing education, and the working classes cost less to maintain each cycle.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1dpr.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3
The Board of Electrical Examiners uses an external testing vendor. The board states that ProV operates all required licensure examinations for the electrical trade. The passing standard is published and it is firm: you must obtain a minimum score of 75 percent to pass the exam. On code content the board says examinations are based on the most up to date National Electrical Code adopted in Delaware. It does not name the edition year on that page, and no other board page this research reached names it either, so no NEC edition year is published here. That phrasing still tells you something useful. The exam tracks the adopted code rather than the newest published NFPA edition, so study the adopted code and confirm which one that is with the board or an inspection agency before you book a seat. The board directs candidates to ProV or to the candidate information bulletin for the remaining exam detail. The number of questions, the time limit and whether the exam is open book are not stated on the board exam page, so those figures are not published here either. The examination requirement attaches to the master, master special, limited and limited special classes. The board waives it for applicants coming in through the reciprocity route from a state it treats as substantially similar, which is the one way into a Delaware master or limited license without sitting ProV.
The Board of Electrical Examiners publishes a single fee schedule and the application fees differ by class. Master electrician is $203. Master electrician special is $200. Limited electrician is $127 and limited electrician special is $127. Journeyperson electrician is $105 and residential electrician is $105. Apprentice electrician is $100. An inspection agency application is $90. A homeowner permit is $42. The board states that all processing fees are non-refundable. Renewal is handled differently. The board states that the renewal amount varies and is communicated at the time of renewal rather than fixed on the fee schedule, and that a late renewal submission carries an additional penalty of 50 percent of the renewal fee. Service fees are published as well and they matter to a contractor chasing work. A verification of licensure costs $35, and a verification that includes exam scores, hours or history costs $45. A roster request costs $45. Continuing education course approval costs $45 when a provider applies and nothing when a licensee applies for approval of a course they took. That last line is worth knowing. If you find a course the board has not already approved, you can submit it yourself without paying the provider approval fee.
Delaware attaches a general liability insurance figure to its upper electrical classes and it appears in two places on the board site. On the license requirements page the board states proof of general liability insurance of at least $300,000 for the master electrician and for the limited electrician, and applies the same minimum to master electrician special and limited electrician special. On the continuing education and audit page the board states that master level electricians selected for audit must also demonstrate general liability insurance for the period being audited, at a minimum of $300,000. So the figure is not a one time application hurdle. It is a condition you have to be able to evidence for the whole period, after the fact, if the board pulls your file. Sec. 1411 puts the requirement in statute in general terms, requiring proof of general liability insurance as required by the board on renewal, and leaves the amount to the board. The renewal page confirms that active electricians must attest to meeting the liability insurance requirement, that journeyman and apprentice holders are exempt from it, and that inactive licenses do not require it. Practically, do not let cover lapse between policies and then attest on renewal. A gap in the middle of a renewal period is exactly what an audit surfaces, and the attestation is made under the board rules.
Sourcesdpr.delaware.gov 1dpr.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3delcode.delaware.gov 4
Delaware runs electrical licenses on a two year cycle. Sec. 1411 states that each license, with the exception of apprentice electricians and school apprentice electricians, shall be renewed biennially. The board states the date plainly: licenses expire on June 30 of even years, and gives 2020 and 2022 as examples of the pattern. The full licensure renewal period therefore runs July 1 to June 30 across even numbered years. Renewal is an attestation process rather than a document upload. The board requires active licensees to attest to meeting the liability insurance requirement and to completing the required continuing education units. It states clearly that you should not upload any continuing education documentation into DELPROS unless you have been notified that you have been selected for audit. That instruction is easy to get wrong, and uploading unprompted does not protect you. Late renewal is possible within one year of expiration and carries a late fee. The board states the penalty as an additional 50 percent of the renewal fee. Because the whole state renews on the same date, a contractor with several licensed people should treat June 30 of the even year as a single company deadline. The renewal itself is cheap. The exposure is a master or limited holder who lets a license lapse and cannot lawfully carry the contracting work in the meantime.
Sourcesdpr.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3
This is where Delaware ties continuing education directly to the National Electrical Code. For master, master special, limited and limited special electricians the board requires 10 hours of approved continuing education per renewal period, and states that beginning with your second renewal, 5 of the 10 continuing education hours must be related to the National Electric Code. So half the requirement is code content once you are past your first cycle. Journeyperson, residential and apprentice electricians require 5 hours of approved continuing education, and the board does not attach a National Electrical Code requirement to those classes. Partial periods are prorated. An electrician licensed less than one year needs no continuing education. An electrician licensed between one and two years needs either 5 hours in the master categories or 2 hours in the journeyperson, residential and apprentice categories. The period runs July 1 to June 30 in even numbered years, matching renewal. The board runs random audits of active license holders. A licensee selected for audit must provide certificates of attendance for all submitted courses, and a master level electrician must also demonstrate the $300,000 general liability insurance for the period being audited. Keep the certificates for the full cycle. The board explicitly tells licensees not to upload continuing education documentation into DELPROS unless notified of selection, so your own records are the only evidence you will have.
Delaware publishes a real reciprocity route and names states, which is more than many boards do. Sec. 1409 sets the statutory basis, providing that the board shall grant a license to an applicant who presents proof of current licensure in good standing in another state. The board then applies that through a substantially similar test. It treats Maryland and New Jersey as having substantially similar standards, and states that applicants holding those licenses need no additional proof of experience. The practical effect is the examination waiver. An applicant coming in by reciprocity from a state the board treats as substantially similar does not sit the ProV exam for the master or limited license. Applicants from the other states the board lists are handled differently. They must submit a verification of employment form proving and describing at least five years after licensure. That is a meaningful hurdle. A recently licensed master electrician from a state outside the Maryland and New Jersey pair does not have a short route into Delaware, because the five year post licensure clock has to have run. The insurance condition still applies on the way in, so an out of state applicant needs the $300,000 general liability cover regardless of which route they use. Verification of licensure from your home state costs $35 through the board, or $45 if exam scores, hours or history are included.
Sourcesdpr.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3
Delaware separates the trade credential from the right to do business, and a contractor needs both. The Board of Electrical Examiners license authorises the electrical work. 30 Del. C. Sec. 2502 requires the contractor business license and it is administered by the Division of Revenue, not by the board. The statute sets a fee of $75, renewable annually with the same amount due each January 1. Sec. 2502 then adds the gross receipts piece, which is the part that costs real money on a growing business. Every contractor pays a license fee of 0.6472 percent of the aggregate gross receipts paid to that contractor, payable monthly on or before the twentieth day of each month with respect to the aggregate gross receipts for the immediately preceding month. In computing the fee due for each month there is a deduction of $100,000. So the first $100,000 of receipts in a month is excluded and the percentage applies above that. Sec. 2503 puts duties on architects, professional engineers, contractors and construction managers in relation to nonresident contractor licenses, which is the provision that reaches out of state firms working in Delaware. Two agencies, two renewal dates. The board license renews June 30 of even years. The business license renews each January 1. Miss either one and you have a problem, but they are different problems with different cures.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov
Delaware runs a statewide electrical inspection system through licensed private agencies, and it is the mechanism that actually enforces the licensing rules at the job. Sec. 1420 states that all electrical work performed in the state, unless specifically exempt, shall receive a certificate of inspection issued by a board licensed inspection agency. Inspection agencies must process applications and complete inspections within 5 working days. The clause with commercial teeth is the utility one. A power company cannot connect service without a cut-in-card from an inspection agency, except in emergencies where a licensed electrician may restore service temporarily. That means your schedule depends on the inspection agency, not just on the utility. Sec. 1421 governs the agencies themselves and keeps them at arms length from contractors. Inspectors need at least 7 years of experience and proof of passing nationally recognised examinations. Employees, officers and stockholders must not have any proprietary or pecuniary interest in any electrical contracting business located in the state, and the same bar reaches interests in electrical manufacturers, appliance sellers and utility companies. Agencies must carry minimum $1,000,000 liability and errors and omissions insurance, and must pay inspectors by salary rather than commissions or bonus incentives. Sec. 1425 allows an agent of the Division to inspect any person providing electrical services at any business or location during business hours, without prior notice, to check licensure.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov
Delaware publishes real numbers for unlicensed practice, which is unusual and useful. Sec. 1424 makes the offence a misdemeanor and sets a two tier fine. On a first offense the person shall be fined not less than $500 nor more than $1,500 for each offense. For a second or subsequent conviction the fine shall be not less than $1,500 nor more than $2,300 for each offense. Read the phrase for each offense rather than per job. It is the counting unit that makes the exposure grow, because a course of unlicensed work is not automatically one offense. Enforcement is not passive. Sec. 1425 lets an agent of the Division inspect during business hours without prior notice at any business or location, specifically to determine whether a person providing electrical services holds the proper license. Sec. 1423 imposes a duty to report. The Division of Professional Regulation also runs an investigative unit that takes public complaints against licensees, so a competitor or a customer has a published route to raise the issue. The inspection system adds a second layer of exposure. Because Sec. 1420 requires a certificate of inspection from a licensed inspection agency for essentially all electrical work in the state, unlicensed work tends to surface at the point where power is connected rather than years later.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1dpr.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3
Delaware protects the titles through the licensing structure rather than through a published advertising display rule. The classes in Sec. 1408 are named credentials. Master electrician, limited electrician, master electrician special, limited electrician special, journeyperson electrician, residential electrician and apprentice electrician each mean a specific thing under Delaware law, and a person who does not hold the class has not earned the description. Sec. 1424 backs that up by making unlicensed practice a misdemeanor with fines from $500 to $2,300 depending on the offense count. The honest position on advertising is this. This research did not find a Delaware statute or board page requiring an electrical licensee to display a license number on a vehicle, in an advertisement, on an estimate or on a website, and none of the sections reached in Subchapter II or Subchapter III of 24 Del. C. Chapter 14 contains one. That is not the same as saying there is no such rule. The board rules and regulations sit at Title 24 Chapter 1400 of the Delaware Administrative Code, and that document was not machine readable from the state regulations site during this research, so no display or advertising rule number is quoted here. Check Chapter 1400 with the board before you rely on the absence. Publishing your number is good practice regardless, because DELPROS lets any customer verify it in seconds.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3
Delaware has no city electrical license competing with the state credential, and the reason is structural. Because Sec. 1420 puts inspection in the hands of board licensed inspection agencies across the whole state, the inspection layer that many states leave to municipal building departments is handled statewide. Wilmington, the largest city, runs a Department of Licenses and Inspections at the Louis L. Redding City County Building, 800 N. French Street, and the department page describes code enforcement and rental inspections. That page does not publish contractor registration requirements or permit fee amounts for electrical work, so no Wilmington figures appear here. The same is true of Dover, where the Planning and Inspections department publishes forms and public documents rather than a contractor requirement page this research could read. Verification is the part a contractor should care about commercially. The board publishes a public lookup at DELPROS, and the verify a license tool sits at delpros.delaware.gov. A customer, a general contractor or a procurement officer can check your class and status there. So put the class and number where people can see them. A customer who can read master electrician and a number can confirm it in one search, which turns a claim on a van into something checkable. The Division also publishes a complaint route, so the same portal that verifies you is the one that receives complaints.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1wilmingtonde.gov 2delpros.delaware.gov 3dpr.delaware.gov 4dpr.delaware.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about Delaware, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Board of Electrical Examiners issues electrical licenses under 24 Del. C. Chapter 14, and the board sits inside the Division of Professional Regulation. The license is statewide. There is no separate city electrical license, partly because Sec. 1420 puts inspection with board licensed inspection agencies across the whole state.
The individual, by class. The Board of Electrical Examiners licenses people, from apprentice through to master electrician. A business trading in Delaware separately needs a state business license from the Division of Revenue under 30 Del. C. Sec. 2502, which is a different agency on a different renewal date.
The board states six years full time experience, or four years full time experience under a master electrician plus an official transcript showing two years of technical training. Sec. 1408 also gives an hours route of 8,000 hours plus 576 hours of training. Limited electrician runs at three years, or 4,000 hours plus 288 hours.
Proof of general liability insurance of at least $300,000 for master electrician, master electrician special, limited electrician and limited electrician special. Journeyman and apprentice holders are exempt. Master level electricians selected for audit must demonstrate the $300,000 cover for the whole period being audited.
Master electrician is $203, master electrician special $200, limited electrician $127, limited electrician special $127, journeyperson electrician $105, residential electrician $105 and apprentice electrician $100. An inspection agency application is $90 and a homeowner permit is $42. All processing fees are non-refundable.
Licenses expire on June 30 of even years and renew biennially under Sec. 1411, with apprentice and school apprentice classes excepted. Late renewal within one year of expiration carries an additional penalty of 50 percent of the renewal fee. The renewal amount is communicated at the time of renewal.
Master, master special, limited and limited special electricians need 10 hours per renewal period, and beginning with the second renewal 5 of those 10 hours must relate to the National Electric Code. Journeyperson, residential and apprentice electricians need 5 hours with no National Electrical Code requirement attached.
The board treats Maryland and New Jersey as substantially similar and requires no additional proof of experience from those applicants, with no exam. Applicants from the other states the board lists must submit a verification of employment form proving and describing at least five years after licensure.
ProV administers all required licensure examinations for the electrical trade, and you must obtain a minimum score of 75 percent to pass. The board states the exams are based on the most up to date National Electrical Code adopted in Delaware, without naming the edition year on its exam page.
Sec. 1424 makes it a misdemeanor. A first offense carries a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,500 for each offense. A second or subsequent conviction carries not less than $1,500 nor more than $2,300 for each offense. Sec. 1425 allows unannounced inspections to check licensure.
Sec. 1420 requires a certificate of inspection from a board licensed inspection agency for all electrical work in the state unless specifically exempt, and a power company cannot connect service without a cut-in-card from an inspection agency. Agencies must process applications and complete inspections within 5 working days.
Through the board public lookup at DELPROS, delpros.delaware.gov, which the Board of Electrical Examiners links from its own site. It shows the class and status. A formal verification of licensure from the board costs $35, or $45 if exam scores, hours or history are included.
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