Idaho · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
Idaho licenses electrical work through the Idaho Electrical Board at the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, and licenses both the business and the individual. Electrical contractors need a license plus $300,000 liability insurance; electricians are licensed by grade from apprentice to master. Idaho Code 54-1002(5) makes that licensure exclusively a state matter, so no city adds its own.
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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.
Electrical licensing in Idaho is a state function, and the statute goes further than most: it forbids cities and counties from running one of their own. The licensing authority is the Idaho Electrical Board, administered by the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses. The division lists the electrical programme under Building, Construction and Real Estate, and runs licensing, permits and inspections from the same office, with licensing questions going to BCRE-Licensing at dopl.idaho.gov. Idaho Code 54-1002(5) is the provision to know before you expand into a new Idaho market. It states that licensure of electrical contractors, residential electricians, journeyman electricians, master electricians, provisional journeyman electricians, limited electrical installers, limited electrical contractors, facility accounts, and registration of apprentice electricians and trainees shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state, and that no local jurisdiction shall have the authority to require additional licensure or registration, or to require payment of any fees in order for a licensee to engage in the electrical construction trade within the local jurisdiction. The same subsection puts enforcement with the state. Idaho investigates all local infractions and state violations and prosecutes them, with local jurisdictions assisting by requesting investigations. It leaves one door open: nothing in the chapter restricts a city or county from imposing stricter public safety rules. Idaho Code 54-1010(5) repeats the preemption from the other direction, stating that the provisions of that section preempt, eliminate and prohibit cities, counties, incorporated or unincorporated areas and special use districts from acting in this space. The rules sit at IDAPA 24.39.10, Rules of the Idaho Electrical Board. The statute is Title 54, Chapter 10, titled Electrical Contractors and Journeymen.
Sourcesdopl.idaho.gov 1dopl.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3legislature.idaho.gov 4adminrules.idaho.gov 5
Idaho licenses both the individual and the business, and it licenses the individual in more grades than most states. The division lists the credentials as apprentice, contractor, provisional journeyman, journeyman, master, limited contractor, limited installer and limited trainee. The statute adds residential electrician and the facility account. Idaho Code 54-1002 makes each one mandatory in its own subsection. Subsection (1) makes it unlawful to act, or attempt to act, as an electrical contractor or limited electrical contractor without a license. Subsection (2) makes it unlawful for any person to act as a residential, journeyman or master electrician without a license, with one relief: a person holding a master electrician's license may act as a residential electrician or journeyman electrician. Subsection (3) does the same for the limited electrical installer, and again allows a master or journeyman to act in that role. Subsection (4) covers the provisional journeyman. The definitions in Idaho Code 54-1003A draw the lines. An electrical contractor is any person or entity engaging in, conducting or carrying on the business of installing wires or equipment to carry electric current, or entering into agreements to install them. A journeyman electrician personally performs or supervises the actual physical work, or engages in planning, layout or design. A master electrician has the qualifications to plan, lay out or design installations or supervise that planning. A residential electrician does the same physical work but in a residential setting, and may work in a non-residential setting only as a registered apprentice under constant on-the-job supervision of a journeyman. Residential setting has a statutory definition that decides which card covers a job: one and two family dwellings, townhouses, and multi-family structures up to three stories.
Sourcesdopl.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3
Idaho counts hours, and it counts them precisely, with two routes to the journeyman card and a hard cap on where the hours may come from. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.01 sets the residential electrician requirement: pass a board-designated examination and submit evidence of a minimum of 4,000 hours of work experience as an apprentice making installations, plus satisfactory completion of a two-year sequence of instruction approved by the Idaho Division of Career Technical Education and the Idaho Electrical Board. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.02 sets the journeyman requirement as an either/or. Either 8,000 hours of work experience as an apprentice making electrical installations plus satisfactory completion of a four-year approved sequence of instruction, or proof of 16,000 hours of electrical experience. Idaho Code 54-1007(4) states the second route in years: anyone who can demonstrate eight years of work experience, defined as a minimum of 16,000 hours, making electrical installations on the job, qualifies to apply. Two limits sit underneath those numbers. Work experience in appliance repair, motor winding or communications does not count toward the journeyman examination or license. And no more than 2,000 hours gained while practising as a limited electrical installer or trainee may be counted toward journeyman licensure. The provisional journeyman license exists to keep you working while you sit the exam. It is issued to an applicant who has completed the 16,000 hours but has not yet passed the examination. For master, Idaho Code 54-1007(3) requires four years as a licensed journeyman plus the hours prescribed by board rule. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.03 adds a point that surprises people: a master electrician does not need to also hold a journeyman license. The statute then gives you one anyway, requiring the administrator to issue a journeyman license alongside the master at no additional cost and with no additional requirements.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3dopl.idaho.gov 4
Idaho carves specialty electrical work out into its own pair of credentials, one for the person and one for the business, and both are restricted to categories the board adopts. Idaho Code 54-1003A(7) defines a limited electrical installer as a person with the qualifications, training, experience and technical knowledge to install, alter, repair and supervise the installation, alteration or repair of special classes of electrical wiring, apparatus or equipment within categories adopted by the board. The statute then draws the boundary in one sentence: limited electrical installers shall perform work only within the scope of the restricted category for which the person is licensed. Idaho Code 54-1003A(8) defines the limited electrical contractor as the business-side equivalent, engaging in or carrying on the business of installing, altering or repairing restricted categories, or entering into agreements to perform such restricted work, again only within the scope of the licensed category. The insurance condition is identical to the full contractor licence. A limited electrical contractor, prior to being issued a license, must provide proof of liability insurance in the amount of $300,000 and proof of workers' compensation insurance if applicable. The experience bar is lower but category-specific. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.04 requires a limited electrical installer applicant to submit evidence of a minimum of 4,000 hours of work experience in the same limited category, in accordance with the requirements of the jurisdiction in which the experience was obtained. Hours in a different category do not transfer. The trainee tier sits underneath. Idaho Code 54-1003A(9) defines the limited electrical installer trainee as a person installing restricted categories under the constant on-the-job supervision of a qualified limited electrical installer, and Idaho Code 54-1010(4) makes it unlawful to work in that role without a current registration certificate. Idaho Code 54-1010(3) states that no supervision ratio applies to limited electrical installer trainees.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3
An Idaho electrical contractor license is a business license, and it is tied to one named individual who cannot be shared. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.05 sets out the whole arrangement. An applicant for an electrical contractor or limited electrical contractor license must pass a board-designated examination and submit an application. Each contractor shall designate one supervising electrician who shall be responsible for the activities of the license. That supervising electrician shall not represent any other applicant for a contractor's license, and a supervising electrician holding more than one electrician license shall not use multiple licenses to represent more than one contractor. The rule then handles the break-up, and the consequence is immediate. If the working relationship between a contractor and its supervising electrician terminates, the contractor must notify the division in writing within ten business days of the termination. Until another duly qualified supervising electrician is designated, the contractor may not purchase permits or make electrical installations. Since permits are how work starts in Idaho, losing your supervising electrician stops the business rather than slowing it. Idaho Code 54-1010 adds the staffing floor. Subsection (1) requires any electrical contractor who works as a residential or journeyman electrician to personally hold the matching license, and requires all installations made by an electrical contractor to be done by or under the direct supervision of a licensed residential, journeyman or master electrician. Subsection (2) is the one that catches small firms. The individual owner of an electrical contracting business shall employ a full-time journeyman electrician with over 2,000 hours of documented experience as a licensed journeyman electrician, or a master electrician. An owner may act as his own journeyman or master provided he holds the licence himself. Each contractor must furnish a list of journeyman electricians in their employ on request.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3
Examination sits at the front of every Idaho electrical credential except the registrations. Idaho Code 54-1007(1) frames the administrator's duty in terms of it: the administrator shall issue licenses to such persons as have by examination shown themselves to be fit, competent and qualified to engage in the trade of residential electrician, journeyman electrician, limited electrical installer or master electrician, and to such persons, firms, partnerships, associations or corporations as have shown themselves fit, competent and qualified to engage in the business of electrical contracting or limited electrical contracting. The division's licensing page names the instrument. Applicants seeking initial licensure as an electrical journeyman must meet the requirements for licensure and pass the NASCLA examination, and the master electrician route runs through the same examination after four years holding an active journeyman license. Registration runs through PSI. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.02.a fixes when you may sit. An applicant may sit for the examination after showing proof of completion of either the approved four-year sequence of instruction or the 16,000 hours of electrical experience. You do not have to wait until the file is otherwise complete. The provisional journeyman license exists to bridge the gap, and it has a shelf life. Idaho Code 54-1008(6) issues it for six months, during which the holder must apply for and take the journeyman examination. A single six-month renewal is available if the applicant took but failed the examination in the period, or failed to take it and can show exceptional circumstances. The license is issued and renewed only once, and an applicant who has not passed within one year of issue is no longer eligible to apply for one. The division publishes a contractors' business and law reference manual and states it must be printed, hole-punched and placed in a three-ring binder for examination use.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2dopl.idaho.gov 3adminrules.idaho.gov 4dopl.idaho.gov 5
Idaho is unusual in printing its licensing fees in the statute rather than leaving them to a rule or a schedule, so the numbers are stable and easy to check. Idaho Code 54-1014 sets an application fee of $15.00 for any license or registration. For six-month licenses, a provisional journeyman electrician license is $55.00 and a provisional journeyman renewal is $45.00. If the holder then applies for a residential or journeyman license, the pro rata value of the time remaining on the provisional license is credited toward the application fee. For one-year licenses and registrations, an electrical contractor license is $125.00, renewal $100.00 and revival $125.00. A limited electrical contractor license carries the same $125.00, $100.00 and $125.00. A facility account license is $125.00. Apprentice electrician registration, renewal and revival are $15.00 each, with pro rata credit toward a residential or journeyman license. For three-year licenses and registrations, a master and journeyman electrician license is $65.00, renewal $45.00 and revival $55.00. A journeyman or residential electrician license is $55.00, renewal $45.00 and revival $55.00. A limited electrical installer license is $55.00, renewal $45.00 and revival $55.00. Limited electrical installer trainee registration is $30.00. The division publishes the same figures as a table on its electrical page, adding a limited trainee renewal of $25.00 and reinstatement of $30.00. Two more charges sit outside that list. Idaho Code 54-1013(4) caps the inactive license fee for an electrical or limited electrical contractor at $150.00 for a one-year inactive renewal, and sets a $30.00 processing fee to convert an inactive license back to active with proof of the required insurance. And IDAPA 24.39.10.500.01.c sets a $65.00 renewal fee for an expired electrical permit.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2dopl.idaho.gov 3adminrules.idaho.gov 4
Idaho sets a hard, specific insurance number for the contractor license, and sets no bond at all. Idaho Code 54-1003A(1) makes it a condition of issuance. An electrical contractor, prior to being issued a license, shall be required to provide proof of liability insurance in the amount of $300,000 and proof of workers' compensation insurance if applicable. Idaho Code 54-1003A(8) imposes the identical requirement on the limited electrical contractor. It is also a condition of staying licensed. Idaho Code 54-1013(1) requires, for electrical contractors and specialty electrical contractors, proof of liability insurance in the amount of $300,000 at renewal, with proof of workers' compensation insurance where applicable. Idaho Code 54-1013(2) repeats the requirement for revival of an expired license, and 54-1013(4) requires the same proof to convert an inactive license back to active. So the certificate is not a one-time filing. It is produced at issue, at every renewal, at revival, and at reactivation, and a renewal cannot complete without it. On bonding, we searched the whole of IDAPA 24.39.10 and Idaho Code Title 54, Chapter 10 for a surety requirement. The only uses of the word bond in the board's rules are the technical ones inside the code amendments, requiring services and luminaire-supporting poles to be appropriately grounded and bonded per the NEC. There is no surety bond condition on an Idaho electrical contractor license. Two other renewal conditions are worth putting on the same checklist, because they stop a renewal just as effectively as a missing certificate. Idaho Code 54-1013(1) requires that all outstanding civil penalties and permit or other fees have been paid in full, and that all outstanding correction notices have been satisfactorily resolved. An unresolved inspection correction from a job you finished months ago will block your renewal.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3
Idaho renews on your birthday rather than on a shared statewide date, and the term depends on which credential you hold. Idaho Code 54-1008(1) issues master, residential, journeyman and limited electrical installer licenses, including renewals, for three years, expiring three years from the birthday of the licensee. Idaho Code 54-1008(3) issues apprentice registrations for two years, and caps a person at five two-year periods as an apprentice. Idaho Code 54-1008(4) issues limited electrical installer trainee registrations for three years. Idaho Code 54-1008(5) issues facility account licenses for two years. Idaho Code 54-1008(7) ends each period at midnight on the last day of the month, and licenses not renewed by that date have expired. Here is the conflict, and both sides of it are primary. Idaho Code 54-1008(2) states that electrical contractor and limited electrical contractor licenses shall be issued for a period of two years and shall expire two years from the birthday of the licensee. Idaho Code 54-1014(3), in the same chapter, prices the electrical contractor license and the limited electrical contractor license under a heading that reads one-year licenses and registration. The division's own fee table on its electrical page lists the contractor and limited contractor term as one year. We are not choosing between them. Confirm your own expiration date in the division's system rather than assuming either term. Idaho Code 54-1013(1) allows renewal at any time during the final month of the licensing period, on payment of the renewal fee and satisfaction of the other conditions. Idaho Code 54-1013(2) allows an expired license to be revived within one year of the last day of the final month, on payment of the revival fee plus outstanding civil penalties, permit fees and penalties, and on proof that outstanding correction notices have been resolved.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2dopl.idaho.gov 3
This is a place where the paperwork and the practice do not line up, and a contractor planning a renewal budget should know which is which. The statute contemplates continuing education. Idaho Code 54-1013(1) conditions renewal on proof of satisfaction of applicable continuing education requirements for journeyman electricians or master electricians as established by the electrical board, alongside proof of satisfaction of applicable apprentice and specialty trainee instruction and work requirements as established by the board. The board's rule contemplates it too, at least in its scope statement. IDAPA 24.39.10.001 describes the chapter as setting out requirements that include license examinations and continuing education. The operative sections do not deliver one. We read the whole of IDAPA 24.39.10. Section 100 covers licensure and registration, Section 200 covers practice standards, Section 300 covers civil penalties, Section 500 covers permits and inspections, and Section 600 adopts and amends the National Electrical Code. No section of the current rule sets a continuing education hour count, a reporting period, an approved provider list, or a code-update course requirement for journeyman or master electricians. So the honest statement is this: the renewal statute makes continuing education a condition to the extent the board has established requirements, and the board's current rule establishes no hours. That is a different thing from saying Idaho has abolished continuing education. A rule can be adopted in any negotiated rulemaking cycle, and the board runs those cycles regularly, as the published 2023-2024 proposed amendments to the National Electrical Code show. Check the board's statutes, rules and guidance page before each renewal rather than relying on what applied at your last one, and keep documentation of any code update training you take in the meantime.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3dopl.idaho.gov 4
Idaho has a reciprocity power in statute, and it is discretionary rather than automatic. Idaho Code 54-1007(6) is the provision. To the extent that other states that provide for the licensing of electricians require qualifications at least equal to those contained in this chapter, the administrator may enter reciprocal agreements with such other states to grant licenses to electricians licensed by those states. The administrator, on the recommendation of the Idaho Electrical Board, may grant licenses to electricians licensed by such other states on payment of the required fee and on furnishing proof to the board that the applicant has qualifications at least equal to those required of applicants for written examinations. Applicants who qualify under that subsection are not required to take a written examination. Three things follow, and they matter to anyone planning a move. The power runs to electricians, not to contractors. Subsection (6) speaks about granting licenses to electricians licensed by other states. The electrical contractor license is a separate credential with its own examination requirement under IDAPA 24.39.10.100.05. The waiver is of the written examination only. Everything else in the chapter still applies, including the insurance proof at Idaho Code 54-1003A(1) for a contractor license and the hours evidence behind whichever grade you are seeking. And out-of-state hours are already accepted on their own terms, without any agreement. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.02 accepts work experience gained in accordance with the requirements of the jurisdiction in which the applicant obtained the experience, and 100.04 does the same for the limited electrical installer. For many applicants the experience route is more reliable than waiting on an agreement. No list of states with current reciprocal agreements is published on the division's electrical pages, so ask the division which agreements are in force before you rely on one.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3dopl.idaho.gov 4
Idaho writes its supervision ratios into statute, which makes them a scheduling constraint rather than a guideline. Idaho Code 54-1010(3) requires any individual working as an apprentice electrician to be registered with the division, and makes it unlawful to work as an apprentice without a current apprentice registration certificate. It then sets two ratios. In a residential setting, the ratio is one residential electrician, journeyman electrician or master electrician to no more than six apprentice electricians. In any setting other than residential, the ratio is one journeyman electrician or master electrician to no more than two apprentice electricians. Note that the residential electrician drops out of the supervising list on commercial work, which follows from Idaho Code 54-1003A(3): a residential electrician may work in a non-residential setting only as a registered apprentice under the constant on-the-job supervision of a journeyman. There is one exemption from the ratios, and it rewards experience plus schooling together. No supervision ratio applies to an apprentice electrician who has completed 6,000 or more hours of work experience as an Idaho-registered apprentice, or in accordance with the requirements of the jurisdiction where the experience was obtained, and who is currently enrolled in or has completed a board-approved career technical education programme. Limited electrical installer trainees sit outside the ratio system entirely under Idaho Code 54-1010(4), though they must hold a current registration certificate and work under the constant on-the-job supervision of a qualified limited electrical installer. Getting this wrong is a priced offense. IDAPA 24.39.10.300.05 makes it a civil penalty matter to work as an apprentice or limited electrical installer trainee without the required supervision, or to employ an apprentice or trainee without providing the required supervision. IDAPA 24.39.10.300.04 separately prices knowing employment of a person without an active license or registration.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3
Idaho has the advertising rule that a contractor going to win work most needs to read, and it is short. IDAPA 24.39.10.300.09 makes two separate acts a civil penalty offense. The first is advertising to engage in the business, trade, practice or work of an electrical contractor, as defined in Idaho Code 54-1003A and 54-1010, without holding a current and valid electrical contractor license issued by the division. The second is advertising without including the contractor license number in the advertisement. The second one is the one that catches licensed, insured, well-run companies. It is not about being unlicensed. It is about a compliant contractor running an advertisement with no number on it. The definition of advertising is deliberately wide. The rule states that advertising includes, but is not limited to, newspaper, telephone directory, community flier ads or notices, and telephone, television, radio, internet, or door-to-door solicitations. Internet is named in the list. That reaches your website, your paid search ads, your social profiles and your directory listings, not just print. The price is set by the opening line of the same section. The acts described in Section 300 subject the violator to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each separate count or offense. Two practical readings follow. Put the contractor license number on every surface a customer can reach, and treat each channel as its own count rather than assuming one omission is one problem. And remember that Idaho Code 54-1017 makes each day of a violation a separate offense, which matters more for an advertisement that runs continuously than for a single flier. Because Idaho preempts local licensing under 54-1002(5), the number you display is a state number that works statewide, which makes it easy to standardise across markets.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3
Idaho runs a criminal track and a civil track over the same conduct, and the two published caps do not match. Idaho Code 54-1017 is the criminal provision. Any person or entity who engages in the trade, business or calling of an electrical contractor, residential electrician, journeyman electrician, master electrician, limited electrical installer, limited electrical contractor, limited electrical installer trainee or apprentice electrician without a license or required registration, or who violates any provision of the act or the rules of the Idaho Electrical Board, or who refuses to perform a duty lawfully enjoined by the administrator within the prescribed time, or who fails to obey a lawful order, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. The same section adds the civil penalty and sets a cap. Any such person shall be subject to the civil penalties established by administrative rule, but not to exceed $3,000 per violation. Each day of such violation shall constitute a separate offense, and a violation counts as a second or additional offense only if it occurs within one year of the first. The board's rule sets a lower figure. IDAPA 24.39.10.300 states that the acts described in that section subject the violator to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each separate count or offense. Both are primary, and we report both: the statute caps the board at $3,000 per violation, and the board's current rule sets $1,000 per count. The list of priced acts in Section 300 is broader than unlicensed practice. It covers failure to comply with any provision of the chapter or a board rule; performing electrical work without an active license or registration; performing outside the scope of a limited license; knowingly employing an unlicensed person; supervision failures; failure to obtain a permit, pay fees, post a permit or request an inspection; failure to make corrections in time; misrepresentation of permit or inspection fees to the customer; advertising violations; and failure to comply with a lawful order.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3
Idaho inspects electrical work with state inspectors rather than city ones, and it adopts the code by act of the legislature. Idaho Code 54-1001 is unusually direct. The 2023 National Electrical Code, NFPA 70, is adopted by the Idaho legislature. The 2023 NEC, together with any amendments, revisions or modifications by the Idaho Electrical Board through negotiated rulemaking, shall collectively constitute and be named the Idaho electrical code. All installations in the state of wires and equipment to convey electric current, and of apparatus to be operated by such current, shall be made substantially in accord with the Idaho electrical code. The section was added in 2023, chapter 244, section 2. The board's amendments sit in IDAPA 24.39.10.600, which states that under the provisions of Idaho Code 54-1001 the National Electrical Code, 2023 Edition, is amended as set out there. The amendments are specific and they change residential rough-in practice. Sections 110.3(A) and 110.3(B) are disapplied to submersible well pumps in swimming and marine areas. In Section 210.8(A), the reference to 250-volt receptacles is deleted, list item (5) is replaced with unfinished areas of basements, list items (7) and (11) are deleted, and list item (8) is replaced with a sinks provision measured at 1.8 metres, or six feet, from the inside edge of the sink. In Article 210.8(B), list items (3), (4) and (14) are deleted. On permits, IDAPA 24.39.10.500 requires all electrical permits to be purchased before work is commenced, with the total permit fee paid before final inspection. No wiring or equipment may be concealed from access or sight until inspected and approved for cover. A permit expires 365 days after purchase and may be renewed for a further year on division approval and a $65.00 fee. Idaho Code 54-1005(3) closes the loop: a power supplier may not energize an installation until an inspection has passed.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3idaho.maps.arcgis.com 4
Idaho's two largest cities add nothing to your licensing burden, and the reason is statutory rather than administrative. Idaho Code 54-1002(5) places licensure of electrical contractors, electricians of every grade, facility accounts and apprentice and trainee registrations within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state, and states that no local jurisdiction shall have the authority to require additional licensure or registration, or to require payment of any fees, in order for a licensee to work within that jurisdiction. Idaho Code 54-1010(5) preempts, eliminates and prohibits cities, counties, incorporated or unincorporated areas and special use districts from the same field. So there is no Boise electrical contractor license and no Meridian electrical contractor license to obtain on top of the state one. The permits and inspections run through the division rather than a city building department, with permits purchased through the division's electrical permit system and inspections requested through its online services. Two limits are worth keeping in view. The preemption is about licensing and registration fees, not about safety: the statute expressly preserves a city's or county's ability to impose stricter public safety rules. And the exclusive jurisdiction provision covers the electrical credential, not general business registration, so ordinary business and tax registrations still apply on their own terms. For the customer side, the division runs a public license search and links to it from the electrical programme page. A homeowner or general contractor can check a name or number before signing. Three habits make that record work for you. Renew on time, because Idaho Code 54-1008(7) expires a license at midnight on the last day of the month and 54-1013(1) blocks renewal while civil penalties, permit fees or unresolved correction notices remain outstanding. Publish your contractor license number in every advertisement, which IDAPA 24.39.10.300.09 requires anyway. And point customers at the division's search directly, since it is the only record that shows whether the license is active today.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3edopl.idaho.gov 4dopl.idaho.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about Idaho, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes, and exclusively. The Idaho Electrical Board, administered by the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, licenses electrical contractors and individual electricians. Idaho Code 54-1002(5) places that licensure within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and bars local jurisdictions from requiring additional licensure, registration or fees.
Both, separately. Idaho Code 54-1002(1) requires an electrical contractor or limited electrical contractor license for the business, and 54-1002(2) to (4) require residential, journeyman, master or provisional journeyman licenses for individuals. A contractor must also designate one supervising electrician under IDAPA 24.39.10.100.05.
Either 8,000 hours of apprentice work experience plus a four-year approved sequence of instruction, or 16,000 hours of electrical experience with no schooling requirement. Idaho Code 54-1007(4) states the second route as eight years and a minimum of 16,000 hours making electrical installations on the job.
A license issued to someone who has completed the 16,000 hours but has not yet passed the examination. Idaho Code 54-1008(6) issues it for six months, allows one six-month renewal in limited circumstances, and ends eligibility if the applicant has not passed within one year of issue.
No. IDAPA 24.39.10.100.03 states that a master electrician does not need to also hold a journeyman license. Idaho Code 54-1007(3) then requires the administrator to issue a journeyman license alongside the master at no additional cost and without additional requirements.
Idaho Code 54-1003A(1) requires proof of liability insurance in the amount of $300,000 and proof of workers' compensation insurance if applicable, before the license is issued. Idaho Code 54-1013 requires the same proof at renewal, at revival and when converting an inactive license back to active.
No surety bond requirement appears in Idaho Code Title 54, Chapter 10 or in IDAPA 24.39.10. The only uses of the word bond in the board's rules are the technical grounding and bonding requirements inside the National Electrical Code amendments at Section 600.
Idaho Code 54-1014 sets an application fee of $15.00, an electrical contractor license fee of $125.00, renewal of $100.00 and revival of $125.00. A limited electrical contractor carries the same figures. A master and journeyman license is $65.00 with a $45.00 renewal.
Master, residential, journeyman and limited installer licenses run three years from the licensee's birthday under Idaho Code 54-1008(1). For contractor licenses the sources differ: 54-1008(2) says two years, while 54-1014(3) and the division's fee table treat them as one-year licenses. Confirm your own expiration date with the division.
Idaho Code 54-1013(1) conditions renewal on continuing education requirements as established by the electrical board, but the current rule, IDAPA 24.39.10, sets no hour count, reporting period or approved provider list for journeyman or master electricians. Check the board's statutes, rules and guidance page before each renewal.
Yes. IDAPA 24.39.10.300.09 makes advertising without including the contractor license number a civil penalty offense, and defines advertising to include newspaper, telephone directory, community fliers, telephone, television, radio, internet and door-to-door solicitations. Section 300 caps the penalty at $1,000 for each separate count or offense.
The 2023 edition. Idaho Code 54-1001 states that the 2023 National Electrical Code, NFPA 70, is adopted by the Idaho legislature, and that the 2023 NEC together with the board's amendments through negotiated rulemaking constitutes the Idaho electrical code. The amendments sit in IDAPA 24.39.10.600.
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