Montana · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
Montana licenses electricians through the Montana State Electrical Board at the Department of Labor and Industry. It licenses the individual by grade as residential, journeyman or master electrician, and licenses the contracting business separately as a limited or unlimited electrical contractor. Every contractor must name a responsible electrician and certify workers compensation and unemployment insurance coverage.
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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.
Montana licenses electricians through the Montana State Electrical Board. The board is one of the professional and occupational licensing boards administered by the Employment Standards Division of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. The board is provided for in 2-15-1764, MCA, and its licensing chapter is Title 37, chapter 68, MCA, titled Electricians and Electrical Safety. The board publishes a combined statute and rule booklet on its own site, dated as of June 7, 2024, which carries both the Montana Code Annotated text and the Administrative Rules of Montana text the board enforces. The board office answers at 406-444-6880 and the electrical mailbox is DLIBSDELE@MT.GOV. Applications and renewals run through the department portal at ebiz.mt.gov/pol. Section 37-68-101, MCA sets out why the chapter exists: to protect people from shock, fire and explosion, to protect property, to establish who may make electrical installations, to assure the public that installers are qualified, and to make sure installations meet minimum safety standards. The board is separate from the Montana Building Codes Program, which sits in the same department and adopts the electrical code itself and issues state electrical permits. Two different parts of one department therefore control two different halves of your working life: the board controls who you are allowed to be, and the codes program controls what the work has to meet. Section 37-68-201, MCA gives the board the power to adopt rules for licensing contractors and for examining master, journeyman and residential electricians.
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Montana issues four electrical credentials. Three of them license a person by grade: residential electrician, journeyman electrician and master electrician. The fourth licenses the business: electrical contractor. The board's own license information menu lists exactly these four, plus the renewal and examination pages. Section 37-68-102, MCA defines each grade. A residential electrician wires, installs and repairs apparatus and equipment for light, heat and power in residential construction of fewer than five living units in a single structure. A journeyman electrician does the same work without that residential limit. A master electrician plans, lays out and supervises installation and repair. An electrical contractor is a person, firm, partnership, corporation, association or combination of those that undertakes or offers to undertake for another the planning, laying out, supervising and installing of wiring apparatus and equipment. The definition deliberately excludes an entity that only plans or designs electrical installations. So Montana licenses both the individual and the contracting business, and it licenses them separately. Holding a master licence does not by itself let you contract. Holding a contractor licence does not by itself let you work with tools unless you also hold a grade. Section 37-68-301, MCA makes this concrete: no person may engage in or work at the business or trade of, or hold out to the public that the person is, an electrician, electrical contractor, residential electrician, journeyman electrician or master electrician until the department has issued a licence or permit.
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The contractor licence comes in two strengths, and the difference is which grade you designate as the responsible electrician. Rule ARM 24.141.505 sets it out. An applicant who designates a licensed journeyman as the responsible electrician receives a limited electrical contractor licence. An applicant who designates a licensed master receives an unlimited electrical contractor licence. ARM 24.141.301 defines an unlimited electrical contractor as one licensed to perform commercial, residential, industrial and institutional electrical installations as covered by the national electrical code. A responsible electrician is the Montana licensed electrician engaged in a full time capacity who is responsible for all licensed electrical work the contractor performs. The rule adds two hard limits. An owner of an unlimited electrical contracting business who is not a licensed master must employ a master electrician full time, and no master may be named responsible electrician for more than one unlimited electrical contractor. An owner of a limited business who is not a licensed journeyman must employ a journeyman full time, and no journeyman may be the responsible electrician for more than one contractor. If your responsible electrician leaves, that electrician must notify the board office in writing within ten working days, and the contractor must file the change of responsible electrician on a prescribed form within ten working days. Failure to name a replacement inside ten working days is cause for suspension of the contractor licence and cause for revocation. That clause is the one that closes small shops.
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Montana counts experience in hours, and the numbers sit in statute rather than rule. Under 37-68-305, MCA a journeyman applicant must furnish written evidence of one of four things: completion of an approved apprenticeship program in the electrical trade, completion of an appropriate training program run by a bona fide union or trade association, 8,000 hours of legally obtained practical experience wiring for, installing and repairing electrical apparatus and equipment for light, heat and power, or work in the electrical maintenance field for at least 20,000 hours with written certification from the employer, of which a minimum of 8,000 hours must be practical experience. A residential applicant must show completion of an approved residential electrician apprenticeship program or 4,000 hours of legally obtained practical experience in residential construction of fewer than five living units in a single structure. Under 37-68-304, MCA a master applicant must show either graduation as an electrical engineer from an accredited college or university plus a minimum of 2,000 hours of legally obtained practical electrical experience, or at least 8,000 hours of legally obtained journeyman level experience in planning, laying out or supervising. Rule ARM 24.141.515, new in 2024, caps the residential share. For a journeyman applicant a maximum of 50 percent of the practical experience may be residential, and the balance must be commercial, industrial, institutional or a combination. For a master applicant no more than 50 percent of the practical or journeyman level experience may be residential.
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PSI is the examination vendor for the Montana State Electrical Board. Only applicants the board has approved may register, and approved applicants receive an admission letter and become eligible to test within about a week. The board's FAQ lists Montana test centres at Belgrade, Big Timber, Billings, Helena, Kalispell and Missoula. Statute sets minimum lengths. Under 37-68-304, MCA the master examination must consist of at least 80 questions covering the national electric code and board rules and applicable laws under Title 37. Under 37-68-305, MCA the journeyman examination must consist of at least 60 questions on the same subjects. Rule ARM 24.141.503 sets the passing marks: 70 percent for residential and journeyman level examinations, and 75 percent for master level examinations. An applicant has one year from board approval to take and pass the approved examination, and after that must reapply and pay again. Every examination is open book. The rule lists exactly what may cross the table: an NEC code book applicable to the examination, with tabs or indexes allowed, a silent nonprinting nonprogrammable calculator that is not designed for preprogrammed electrical calculations, copies of the Montana statutes and rules relating to electricians, and Printreading by David L. Hittinger based on the applicable NEC code. Fail twice and you must prove you attended at least one eight hour electrical code seminar approved by the board since the first failure. A rescore request must reach the board office in writing within 20 days.
Rule ARM 24.141.405 carries the board's fee schedule, and the current version took effect May 25, 2024. Examination fees themselves are set by the testing agency and vary by examination, and candidates pay the testing agency directly once the board approves the application. Inside the rule the board sets an examination review fee of $100 and a fee of $200 for an examination administered by the board. The application fee for a licence by examination is $190, and that figure includes the original licence fee. The contractor original licence fee is $210. Renewal fees run for two years: $210 for a contractor, $140 for a master, $140 for a journeyman and $140 for a residential electrician. An application by endorsement or reciprocity is $190, and that also includes the original licence fee. A continuing education provider application is $25 and a continuing education course fee is $10. A temporary practice permit is $50. All fees are nonrefundable. Additional standardized department fees sit in ARM 24.101.403, and the board adopts the department fee abatement rule at ARM 24.101.301 by reference through ARM 24.141.408. The board FAQ adds one charge worth knowing about in advance: if a check or card payment is returned for insufficient funds, you owe the original amount plus a $30 NSF fee, payable by money order or cashier's check. Section 37-68-313, MCA requires every fee to be reasonably related to program costs, with fees going to a state special revenue fund and fines to the general fund.
The renewal cycle is two years. The fee schedule at ARM 24.141.405 prices renewal as a two year fee for every licence class, and the board runs a renewal process page for the cycle. The continuing education requirement is where Montana gets genuinely confusing, and we report the conflict rather than resolve it for you. The board's own statute and rule booklet prints ARM 24.141.2102 as follows: sixteen hours of continuing education must be obtained for each year in the renewal cycle, and a minimum of eight hours must cover NEC updates. The board's continuing education web page states it differently: each active licensee is required to complete 16 hours of continuing education each renewal period, and a minimum of 8 of the required 16 hours must cover NEC updates. The board's FAQ page states it a third way: eight hours of continuing education must be obtained for each year in the renewal cycle, with a minimum of four of the eight annual hours certified as covering NEC updates. Three pages published by the same board give three different answers. Confirm your own number with the board office before you rely on any of them. All three sources agree on the exemptions: newly licensed graduates of approved apprenticeship programs are exempt for their first renewal cycle, and licensees moving up from journeyman or residential to a higher grade are not exempt. Licensees keep their own completion certificates, and the department may audit at any time. Basic electric and apprentice level courses do not count.
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Montana does not require an electrical contractor to post a surety bond with the board. Nothing in the board's fee schedule at ARM 24.141.405 and nothing in the contractor licensing rule at ARM 24.141.505 sets a bond amount, and no bond appears anywhere in Title 37, chapter 68, MCA as the board publishes it. What the board does require is proof of coverage in two other systems. ARM 24.141.505 says an applicant for an original or renewal electrical contractor licence must submit a completed application, the appropriate fees, and certification of workers compensation coverage as required under 39-71-101, MCA and following, and certification of unemployment insurance coverage as required under 39-51-101, MCA and following. That certification is a condition of getting the licence and of keeping it at renewal, not a one time formality. The board also treats labour law compliance as a licence matter. Under ARM 24.141.2301 a licensee must comply with all relevant laws under Title 39, MCA, and any adjudication by a court or agency of a violation of workers compensation, unemployment insurance or independent contractor law in Montana while engaged in the electrical trade is unprofessional conduct in its own right. General liability insurance is a commercial and contractual question in Montana rather than a licensing one, so the amount you carry is set by the jobs you bid and the people who hire you, not by the board.
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Montana does not publish a list of reciprocal states the way some neighbouring boards do. Rule ARM 24.141.504, amended effective May 25, 2024, gives the board discretion instead. The board may, on a case by case basis, enter into a reciprocity agreement with another state or jurisdiction whose requirements are substantially equivalent to or greater than Montana's standards, and the rule limits that route to issuing a residential or journeyman electrician licence. Separately, the board may issue a licence by endorsement to an applicant who files a completed application with the required fees and who holds a current valid licence in good standing to practise in the category applied for in another state or jurisdiction. The application fee for endorsement or reciprocity is $190 under ARM 24.141.405, and that includes the original licence fee. One sentence in the rule kills a common assumption. A licence issued by a city, county or other similar municipality will not be considered for licensure by reciprocity or endorsement. If your credential came from a municipal examining board rather than a state, Montana will not convert it. Continuing education travels along the same path. Under ARM 24.141.2102 the board honours continuing education courses approved by a state that has a reciprocal licensing agreement with the board, or courses the department determines are substantially equivalent, provided the course approval number, the date and the credit breakdown appear on the completion certificate. Montana is listed as a reciprocal journeyman state by the Nebraska State Electrical Board.
Montana works to the 2020 edition of the National Electrical Code. The Montana Building Codes Program publishes the current adopted code list, and it shows the National Electrical Code, 2020 Edition, effective June 11, 2022. The same list flags a technical advisory issued for NEC 210.8, TIA 23-3. The rest of the adopted set took effect on the same date: the 2021 International Building Code family, the 2021 International Mechanical Code, the 2021 International Fuel Gas Code, the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code and NFPA 99 2018 for medical gas. The board and the code program are deliberately linked. ARM 24.141.301 defines the Montana State Electrical Code as those sections and amendments of the National Electrical Code adopted by the Department of Labor and Industry's Building Standards Program, and defines the National Electric Code as the code promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association, as amended and revised, adopted by that program and enforced by the board. That matters for discipline as well as for inspection. Under ARM 24.141.2301 a licensee must correct violations of the Montana State Electrical Code after proper notice and adequate time, as determined by the inspector in light of how serious the violation is. The responsible electrician of a licensed contractor carries the duty of obtaining any required permit or inspection and of ensuring the work meets Montana requirements and the National Electrical Code. Failing either is unprofessional conduct, not merely a failed inspection.
Montana enforces unlicensed practice through the department rather than through a criminal charge in the first instance. Section 37-1-109, MCA, enacted in 2023, lets the department issue a cease and desist order on credible evidence that a person is acting, has acted, or is about to act in a Title 37 profession without the required licence, with a restricted title or designation without meeting the requirements for its use, or in violation of a statute or rule of the profession. The order takes effect on service. A board screening panel, or the department on behalf of a program, may then assess a penalty of not more than $1,000 a day for each day the cease and desist order is violated. Half of that penalty goes to the board's state special revenue fund and the rest to the general fund. The board may also bring an action for injunction or another civil remedy in district court in the name of the state, without having to prove that a legal remedy is inadequate or that damage is substantial or irreparable, and it is entitled to its costs including investigation costs and attorney fees. A person who knowingly or purposely violates that district court injunction is guilty of a felony. An officer, agent, partner or member of a business entity who knowingly and personally participates in the violation is subject to the same penalties. Separately, under 37-1-312, MCA the board may fine a licensee up to $5,000 for each violation on a finding of unprofessional conduct.
Montana turns licence display into a roadside offence, which is unusual and which catches out crews from other states. Section 37-68-301(2), MCA requires a person who holds a licence under chapter 68 to carry the licence at all times while working at a jobsite and performing work that requires a licence. Section 37-68-315, MCA gives the right to demand it to a building code compliance inspector, an employee of the department, a person professionally responsible for a job site, an employee of a private or public employment agency or labour union, and to any electrician licensed under the chapter. A department employee may issue a citation and collect a fine on the spot where a person performing electrical work fails to display a licence. Section 37-68-316, MCA fixes the fines: $100 for a first offence, $250 for a second offence and $500 for a third and any subsequent offence. Each day of violation is a separate offence. The person issuing the citation must determine from an up to date list or by contacting the board office whether the citation is a first, second or subsequent offence. The board may not impose a fine for a first offence on a licensee who produces proof of licensure to the department within five days of the citation, and in other cases may waive or refund the fine on acceptable proof. On top of the citation, the person is also subject to 37-1-109, MCA. Contractors have a second duty: under ARM 24.141.2301 an electrical contractor shall have the contractor's licence posted at the place of business.
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Montana does not require an electrician or an electrical contractor to print a licence number on a vehicle, a website, a yard sign or a written estimate. No such requirement appears in Title 37, chapter 68, MCA or in the board's rules as the board publishes them. What Montana restricts instead is the words you use and the honesty of the claim. Section 37-68-302, MCA prohibits unauthorized use of title. A person, firm, partnership, corporation or association may not assume or use the title or designation of licensed master electrician, master electrician, licensed journeyman electrician, journeyman electrician, licensed residential electrician, residential electrician, licensed electrician or electrician unless qualified and licensed under the chapter. That list is specific, and it covers the bare word electrician as well as the graded titles. Section 37-1-109, MCA reaches the same conduct from the other direction by allowing a cease and desist order against a person acting with a restricted title or designation without meeting the requirements for that use. Section 37-1-316(1)(g), MCA makes a misleading, deceptive, false or fraudulent advertisement or other representation in the conduct of the profession unprofessional conduct, which exposes the licence itself and opens the door to the fine under 37-1-312, MCA. The practical reading for a contractor: claim only the grade you hold, do not let a limited contractor licence read as an unlimited one in your marketing, and do not advertise commercial or industrial capability that your responsible electrician's grade does not support.
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Montana's two largest cities are certified local code jurisdictions, which changes who inspects your work but not who licenses you. The Montana Building Codes Program publishes the list of certified city, county and town programs. Billings enforces building, plumbing with medical gas, electrical, mechanical and pool codes inside the city limits. Missoula enforces building, plumbing, electrical, mechanical and pool codes inside the city limits. In both cities the local programme performs the electrical inspections, not the state. The same page states the default plainly: all other areas are under the jurisdiction of the State Building Codes Bureau. That default is why a Montana contractor working across the state deals with two different permit counters depending on the address. The board FAQ confirms the state side of it. A permit is required for a homeowner or a licensee to do electrical work on a home or on a business project, and outside certified jurisdictions you obtain that electrical permit from the Building Codes Bureau. What does not change is the licence. Montana issues one state electrical licence, and neither Billings nor Missoula issues a competing electrical trade licence of its own under the board's scheme. Under ARM 24.141.2301 the responsible electrician of a licensed contractor is responsible for timely obtaining any permit or inspection required by the state of Montana or by the state or local building code enforcement entity, whichever applies to the address.
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Section 37-68-103, MCA lists the exemptions, and several of them have a sting in the tail. The chapter does not apply to installation, alteration or repair of electrical signal or communications equipment owned or operated by a public utility or a city, and communications equipment includes telephone wire inside a customer's premises. A public utility may do inside wiring in buildings it owns if a licensed electrician does the work, but if that building is open to the public and the wiring is major renovation or construction it is still subject to permits and inspections required by law. Licensing and inspection provisions do not apply to regularly employed maintenance electricians doing maintenance work on their employer's business premises. An individual does not need a licence to perform electrical work on the individual's own property or residence maintained for the individual's own use, and here is the sting: that exemption does not cover work on a grid tied generator located at the individual's own property or residence. Apprentices as defined in 39-6-101 working under the supervision of a licensed electrician are exempt, including people in approved journeyman or residential apprenticeship programs. Students enrolled in an electrician training program at an accredited college or university are exempt for classroom and laboratory assignments, but the subsection does not authorize a student to do electrical work that will be incorporated or used in an occupied structure. Finally, no licence is required for electrical work involving 90 volts or less of alternating or direct current.
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Montana runs a public licensee lookup and expects consumers to use it. The Department of Labor and Industry publishes the Licensee Lookup System, and the board describes it as the primary source for verifying the credentials of professionals licensed by the State of Montana. Anyone can search it without an account. The department is careful about what it promises: it relies on licensees to supply accurate information as state law requires, it does not guarantee the accuracy of the information, and it warns that some disciplinary actions may not appear immediately because appeals and administrative processes can delay updates. For records before July 1, 1996 the department directs enquiries to the specific licensing programme. A customer who wants a formal document rather than a screen can submit a License Verification Request through the department portal. That request needs the professional's licence number, there is no charge for the service, and the verification can be emailed or mailed. A contractor can shorten the whole conversation by handing over the physical licence, which 37-68-301(2), MCA already requires the electrician to carry on site, and by having the contractor licence posted at the place of business as ARM 24.141.2301 requires. Ask a Montana contractor two questions before you sign: which licence is it, limited or unlimited, and who is the named responsible electrician. Both answers are checkable, and both change what the shop is legally allowed to take on.
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These are common details other guides publish about Montana, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Montana State Electrical Board, part of the Department of Labor and Industry, licenses electricians statewide under Title 37, chapter 68, MCA. There is no separate city electrical trade licence in Montana.
Both, and separately. Residential, journeyman and master licences go to the individual by grade. The electrical contractor licence goes to the business and must name a responsible electrician.
Under ARM 24.141.505, naming a licensed journeyman as responsible electrician produces a limited contractor licence. Naming a licensed master produces an unlimited licence, which covers commercial, residential, industrial and institutional work.
Section 37-68-305, MCA accepts an approved apprenticeship, a bona fide union or trade association training programme, 8,000 hours of practical experience, or 20,000 hours in electrical maintenance of which 8,000 must be practical.
ARM 24.141.503 sets 70 percent for residential and journeyman level examinations and 75 percent for master level examinations. All examinations are open book with a defined list of allowed materials.
ARM 24.141.405 sets the contractor original licence fee at $210 and the two year contractor renewal at $210. Master, journeyman and residential renewals are $140 each for two years.
The board publishes three different figures. The rule booklet prints 16 hours for each year in the cycle with 8 on NEC updates, the CE page says 16 hours per renewal period, and the FAQ says 8 hours a year. Confirm with the board office.
No bond appears in the board's fee schedule, its contractor licensing rule or chapter 68 as the board publishes them. The board does require certification of workers compensation and unemployment insurance coverage.
The 2020 edition, effective June 11, 2022, as adopted by the Montana Building Codes Program. A technical advisory was issued for NEC 210.8.
Possibly. ARM 24.141.504 lets the board make reciprocity agreements case by case for residential or journeyman licences, and lets it issue a licence by endorsement. A licence issued by a city or county will not be considered.
Section 37-68-316, MCA sets citation fines of $100 for a first offence, $250 for a second and $500 for a third or later. Each day is a separate offence, and a first offence fine can be waived if you produce proof within five days.
No. Both are certified local code jurisdictions that perform electrical inspections inside their city limits, but the electrical licence itself still comes from the Montana State Electrical Board.
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