Nebraska · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
Nebraska licenses electricians at state level through the Nebraska State Electrical Division for the State Electrical Board. It licenses the individual by grade, from registered apprentice through journeyman, and licenses the contracting business separately as an electrical contractor. Working without a proper licence while claiming to hold one is a Class IV felony under the State Electrical Act.
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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.
Nebraska licenses electricians at state level, and it does so through an agency that exists only for this trade. The Nebraska State Electrical Division administers licensing and inspection for the State Electrical Board. The office sits at 1220 Lincoln Mall, Suite 125, Lincoln, NE 68508, and answers at 402-471-3550. The governing law is the Nebraska State Electrical Act, sections 81-2101 through 81-2144 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes, and the division publishes the full act and the board rules as downloadable documents on its own statutes and rules page. The board has adopted eighteen promulgated rules to carry out what the division describes as its mission of public safety through electrical licensing and inspection. This structure is worth stating plainly because Nebraska does not handle every trade this way. Plumbing in Nebraska is a municipal matter with no state licence. Electrical is the opposite: one state board, one state licence, one statewide code, and a state inspection service that covers everywhere a certified municipal or county programme does not. Section 81-2104 of the act gives the board power to adopt rules, to revoke, suspend or refuse to renew a licence, to order disconnection of power from an installation that is proximately dangerous, to order removal of dangerous wiring, to investigate any death by electrocution in the state, to set inspection fees, and to enforce the National Electrical Code as adopted. The division also runs the permit system and the licensee search.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3
The division lists six credentials on its licensing pages: apprentice electrician, journeyman electrician, residential journeyman wireman, electrical contractor, fire alarm installer and a reciprocal licence for out of state electricians. The fee schedule reveals more. The 2025 to 2026 licence and registration fee page prices eleven licence classes plus apprentice registration, and that list includes Class A Master, Class B Electrical Contractor, Class B Master and Class B Journeyman alongside the current classes, plus three specialty classes: Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Irrigation, and Sign Installer. Board Rule Number 1 explains the specialty group. Special Electrician licences issued before September 9, 1993 cover fire alarm systems, air conditioning and refrigeration systems, irrigation systems and sign installation. Specialty licences the board may still issue carry tight scope limits. Irrigation is limited to electrical installations from the first point of overcurrent. Sign Installer is limited to branch circuit conductors and sign apparatus installation only. Fire alarm does not qualify the holder to install the branch circuit supply conductors to the system. None of these specialty licences permits any wiring on the line side of the disconnect. So Nebraska licenses the individual by grade and licenses the contracting business separately as an electrical contractor. The residential journeyman electrician licence is valid only for residential installations. Anyone wanting to bid a job needs to check two things: which grade the working electricians hold, and whether the firm itself holds a contractor licence.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3electrical.nebraska.gov 4
Nebraska's contractor licence has one of the lighter qualification paths in the region, and it is worth reading carefully before assuming it is out of reach. Under the division's own requirements, an applicant for an electrical contractor licence must either be a graduate of a four year electrical engineering course at an accredited college or university and have at least one year of experience acceptable to the board as a licensed journeyman electrician, or simply have at least one year of experience acceptable to the board as a licensed journeyman electrician. Board Rule Number 8 repeats those two routes in the same terms. That means one year as a licensed journeyman is the operative threshold, and the engineering degree route is an alternative rather than an addition. The application fee for the contractor licence is $180, which is double the $90 application fee charged for the journeyman, residential journeyman wireman and fire alarm installer examinations. The contractor licence fee is $187.50 when issued in an even numbered year and $375 when issued in an odd numbered year, because the licence period runs to the end of the next even numbered year. Section 81-2119 of the act adds a provision most states lack: on the death of an electrical contractor, a Class A master electrician, a Class B electrical contractor or a fire alarm installer, the board may permit a representative to carry on the decedent's business for up to six months to complete work under contract, provided the representative furnishes all required public liability and property damage insurance.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3
Each grade has its own experience floor, stated by the division on the licence page for that grade. A journeyman electrician applicant must have at least four years of verifiable experience acceptable to the board, which the division states as 8,000 hours, in the electrical trade. Registration as an apprentice electrician for those years constitutes evidence of that experience on board approval. One year of work experience credit is granted for completion of a two year post high school electrical course with an associate's degree in electrical technology, and Board Rule Number 8 fixes the conversion: a minimum of 700 contact hours is the equivalent of one year of instruction. Work experience credit may also be given for qualified electrical experience gained in military service. One clause has a long tail. If your verifiable experience is less than 4,000 hours inside Nebraska, the division issues a restricted licence, and a restricted licence will not reciprocate with any other state. A residential journeyman electrician applicant needs at least three years of experience acceptable to the board, with the same apprentice registration evidence rule and the same possible one year credit for an approved two year post high school course. A fire alarm installer applicant needs at least two years of experience in planning, laying out and installing fire alarm systems and must have been registered as an apprentice working under a licensed fire alarm installer for two years. Section 81-2113 of the act carries the further requirements the division points applicants toward.
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Nebraska registers apprentices rather than leaving them unrecorded, and the registration is the evidence base for every later licence application. Under section 81-2113 of the act, titled apprentice electrician, registration, supervision, renewal, continuing education, a person may register with the board and pay the fee provided in section 81-2118 to work as an apprentice electrician, and that registration entitles the registrant to act as an apprentice to a license holder. The supervision standard is strict and spelled out. An apprentice electrician shall do no electrical wiring except under the direct personal on the job supervision and control and in the immediate presence of a licensee under the State Electrical Act, and that supervision must include both on the job training and related classroom training as the board approves. The ratio is capped: a licensee may employ or supervise apprentices at a ratio not to exceed three apprentice electricians to one licensee. The ratio and the other requirements of the section do not apply to a teacher and student relationship within a community college classroom. The act defines what immediate presence means in practice, which prevents an argument on site: the licensee and the apprentice shall be working at the same project location, but they are not required to be within sight of one another at all times. An apprentice may not install, alter or repair electrical equipment outside those terms, and the licensee employing or supervising the apprentice may not authorize or permit it. Registration costs $35 in an even numbered year and $70 in an odd numbered year.
Board Rule Number 9 sets the shape of the Nebraska examination. State electrical examinations shall consist of a minimum of 50 questions covering the National Electrical Code, basic electricity, the Nebraska State Electrical Act, blueprint reading, emergency circuits and fire alarm circuits. The minimum grade considered as passing is 75 percent. Applicants are allowed a maximum of three hours to complete the examination and may use a slide rule or a numerical nonprogrammable calculator throughout. The fee for reexamination is the same as the original fee, and applicants who fail must reapply before taking another examination. Failure to appear at three consecutive examinations, or to complete the examination within 90 days, forfeits the examination fee and forces a new application. The division's examination scope page states that the examination for all licence types except apprentice registration covers the National Electrical Code 2023, basic electricity theory, the Nebraska State Electrical Act, and emergency circuits including fire alarm circuits. Passing the examination earns 6 hours of continuing education credit toward renewal. The vendor changed on October 1, 2023, when the board approved a switch from ICC to PSI for the electrical contractor, journeyman and residential wireman examinations. PSI notifies approved candidates directly and there is no at home testing option. PSI sites in Nebraska are Grand Island, Lincoln, Norfolk, North Platte, Omaha, Scottsbluff and Sidney. Specialty licence candidates for fire alarm, sign installer, irrigation and HVAC schedule through the division's licensing desk instead.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3electrical.nebraska.gov 4
Nebraska prices licences per year of a two year period, which produces the unusual double figure that surprises people applying in an odd numbered year. The division's 2025 to 2026 licence and registration fee page states that for each year of the two year licence period, issuance and renewal cost $187.50 for an electrical contractor, a Class A Master, a Class B Electrical Contractor and a Class B Master, and $37.50 for a journeyman electrician, a Class B journeyman, a residential wireman, a fire alarm installer, a Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration licence, an irrigation licence and a sign installer licence. Apprentice registration is $35. Licences expire on December 31, 2026 under that schedule. The individual licence pages state the same numbers in the form the applicant meets them. A licence issued in an even numbered year costs one year of the period. A licence issued in an odd numbered year costs both. That is $375 for an electrical contractor issued in an odd numbered year against $187.50 in an even numbered year, and $75 against $37.50 for a journeyman, residential journeyman wireman or fire alarm installer. Apprentice registration is $70 in an odd numbered year against $35 in an even numbered year. Application fees sit on top and are separate from the licence fee: $180 for the electrical contractor examination application and $90 for the journeyman, residential journeyman wireman and fire alarm installer examination applications. Section 81-2118 of the act requires the board to set these fees by unanimous vote and to report them annually.
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Every electrical licence and apprentice registration issued by the State Electrical Board expires on December 31 of even numbered years. Section 81-2118 sets the renewal window: the holder may renew from October 1 through November 30 of the even numbered year on payment of the fee, and may renew during a late period from December 1 through December 31 on payment of the fee plus ten percent of the renewal fee. The division's renewal page states the same ten percent late fee for anyone renewing between December 1 and December 31. On August 1 and September 1 of even numbered years, and only as a courtesy, the board emails renewal notices to the last known email address of every licence and registration holder. Missing the notice does not extend the deadline. What happens after December 31 is the part that costs money and time. The statute says all holders of expired licences or registrations shall apply for a new licence or registration. The division states the consequence in plain terms: the holder of an expired licence may not install electrical equipment and must apply to take the examination to obtain a new licence. An expired apprentice registration is easier, requiring a new registration application but no examination. The division's 2024 state act update notes that the late filing fee has increased to $250. Renewals are completed online on and after October 1 of the even numbered year.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3
Nebraska ties continuing education to the code cycle and states the requirement in hours rather than in vague terms. To renew a licence issued under the State Electrical Act the licensee must complete twelve contact hours of continuing education by January 1 of each odd numbered year. The State Electrical Board approves the courses, and they may consist of training programmes, courses and seminars offered by the State Electrical Division or by public or private schools, organizations or associations. Of those twelve contact hours, a minimum of six must be spent studying the National Electrical Code described in section 81-2104 of the act. The remaining hours may cover electrical circuit theory, blueprint reading, transformer and motor theory, electrical circuits and devices, control systems, programmable controllers and microcomputers, or any other electrical related material the board approves. Any additional hours spent on the National Electrical Code are acceptable, so the six hour code minimum is a floor rather than a cap. The renewal page repeats the rule as a document requirement: to renew any licence the holder must provide a certificate proving attendance at a minimum of twelve hours of board approved continuing education, with at least six of those hours on the National Electrical Code. Apprentice registrations do not require those hours to renew. Specialty licences do. Board Rule Number 1 states that twelve hours of continuing education will be required when renewing the special electrician licences. Passing a board examination earns six hours of credit toward the total.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3electrical.nebraska.gov 4
Nebraska sets its insurance minimum in board rule rather than statute, and it attaches the duty to the person rather than the firm. Board Rule Number 7 states that Electrical Contractor, Class A Electrical Contractor, Class B Electrical Contractor and Class A Master license holders who are actively engaged in the ownership and operation of an electrical contracting firm shall maintain in force minimum liability insurance in the amount of $100,000 for each person, $300,000 for each accident, and $100,000 property damage. The rule adds a sensible exception. When more than one qualifying licence holder is engaged in the ownership and operation of one electrical contracting firm, only one of them must maintain that insurance in force. The obligation has teeth at licence level. Section 81-2104 of the act empowers the board to revoke, suspend or refuse to renew any licence or registration when the licensee is an electrical contractor or master electrician and fails or refuses to provide and keep in force a public liability insurance policy as required by the board. Letting the policy lapse is therefore a licensing offence, not only a commercial exposure. No surety bond requirement appears in the State Electrical Act or in the eighteen board rules as the division publishes them, so Nebraska does not ask an electrical contractor to post a bond with the board. Section 81-2119 carries the insurance duty across a death in the business: a representative continuing the decedent's work must furnish all required public liability and property damage insurance.
The Nebraska State Electrical Board publishes its reciprocity terms rather than leaving them to case by case negotiation. The board has a reciprocal licensing agreement for the journeyman electrician licence with Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Four of those states also reciprocate for electrical contractor licences: Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas. Every other state on the list is for journeyman licensing only. The conditions are specific. The applicant must have received 75 percent or greater on the state examination for the licence being reciprocated, and must have passed a state examination for the licence to reciprocate at all. The applicant must have held that licence in good standing for a period of not less than one year. If the issuing state has no record of the examination, the application is rejected, and refunds are not made on processed applications. Nebraska licensed candidates going the other way must have been registered for four years and worked 8,000 hours in Nebraska. One warning appears on the page in bold terms: there is a one time reciprocation policy for the State of Nebraska, and if you let your licence lapse for any reason you will have to take an examination to get it back. Municipal reciprocity runs on a parallel track under Board Rule Number 11, requiring 75 percent or better on a board approved municipal examination and a current municipal licence.
Nebraska adopts the National Electrical Code by statute, which makes the edition unusually easy to verify. Section 81-2104 of the State Electrical Act states that in adopting rules the board shall be governed by the minimum standards set forth in the National Electrical Code issued and adopted by the National Fire Protection Association beginning in the 2023 edition, Publication Number 70-2023. The same subsection then carves out five sections and holds them at the earlier edition: the minimum standards set forth in the 2017 edition apply for sections 210.8(A), 210.8(A)(3), 210.8(A)(5), 230.67(A) and 230.85. Anyone quoting Nebraska as a straight 2023 code state is overstating it, because those five carve outs cover ground fault protection for receptacles and surge and emergency disconnect requirements that come up on nearly every service change. Each edition mentioned in the subsection must be filed in the offices of the Secretary of State and the board while it is in use, and is a public record. The division announced the changeover on its own site. Beginning August 1, 2024 the Nebraska State Electrical Division adopted NFPA 70, National Electrical Code 2023. From that date all testing through PSI switched to the 2023 code, and specialty licence examinations in the office switched as well. PSI candidate bulletins were updated so that either the 2020 or the 2023 NFPA 70 code book or handbook is allowed reference material in the examination room.
Nebraska sets the penalty higher than most states, and the division says so on its own renewal page in a single sentence: it is a Class IV felony to work in the State of Nebraska without a proper licence. The statutory basis is section 81-2143 of the State Electrical Act. It shall be a Class IV felony to knowingly and willfully commit, or to order, instruct or direct another to commit, any of five listed acts. Those are making a false statement in any licence application, request for inspection, certificate or other lawfully authorized or required form or statement provided by the act; performing electrical work for another without a proper licence for such work while claiming to have such licence; failing to file a request for inspection when required; interfering with or refusing entry to an inspector lawfully engaged in the performance of duties; and failing or neglecting to comply with the act or any lawful rule, regulation or order of the board. Two elements narrow it. The conduct must be knowing and willful, and the unlicensed work provision is written as performing work while claiming to have a licence. The act also carves out family. Subsection 1(b) shall not be construed to prohibit a person from performing electrical work for a parent, stepparent, spouse, descendant, grandparent, brother, sister, cousin, uncle or aunt, whether of the whole or half blood or by adoption or marriage.
Nebraska's state licence is good statewide, but who inspects your work depends on the address. The division publishes a list of municipal and county electrical inspection programmes with the inspector's name and phone number for each. Omaha inspects within its own jurisdiction and also covers Elkhorn. Lincoln inspects within its own jurisdiction and also covers Cheney, Emerald, Hickman and other listed communities. Lancaster County, South Sioux City, Hall County, Douglas County and Sarpy County appear on the same list, along with Bellevue, Bennington, Fremont, Grand Island, Gretna, Hastings, Kearney, Norfolk, Papillion and Ralston among others. Communities marked with an asterisk are single family residential inspection only. Everywhere not on the list is inspected by the State Electrical Division through its own state electrical inspectors, and the division publishes an inspection map and an inspector contact page. Section 81-2104 of the act connects local ordinances back to the state licence: the board may revoke, suspend or refuse to renew a licence when the licensee violates any political subdivision's approved inspection ordinances. Board Rule Number 11 runs the other direction, letting a person who passed a board approved municipal electrical examination obtain a state licence at the same level on request and payment of the licence fee, provided the applicant meets the state experience minimums, scored at least 75 percent, and holds a current licence issued by the municipality that gave the examination. Municipalities must resubmit examinations for board approval annually and change at least ten percent of the questions.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3
Nebraska does not require an electrical contractor to display a licence number on a vehicle, a website, a yard sign or a written estimate. No such requirement appears in the State Electrical Act as the division publishes it, and none appears in the eighteen board rules. What the act does regulate is the claim itself. Section 81-2143 makes it a Class IV felony to knowingly and willfully perform electrical work for another without a proper licence for such work while claiming to have such licence. That wording puts the false claim at the centre of the offence rather than treating the unlicensed work as a separate technical breach, so a contractor whose marketing asserts a grade the shop does not hold is describing the elements of the offence in public. The same section makes it a Class IV felony to make a false statement in any licence application, request for inspection, certificate or other lawfully authorized or required form provided by the act, which reaches paperwork handed to a customer as well as paperwork filed with the board. Scope limits function as advertising limits in practice. A residential journeyman electrician licence is valid only for residential installations. An irrigation specialty licence is limited to installations from the first point of overcurrent, and a sign installer licence to branch circuit conductors and sign apparatus. None of the specialty licences permits work on the line side of the disconnect. Advertise beyond the scope your licence carries and the licence is what you put at risk.
Sourceselectrical.nebraska.gov 1electrical.nebraska.gov 2electrical.nebraska.gov 3
The Nebraska State Electrical Division runs a public licensee search and links to it from the top level of its own navigation as Licensee Search. That link now resolves to the division's NSED online licensing and permitting portal, which went live as a new system and carries the public search. The division also offers licensee list orders for anyone who needs bulk data rather than a single lookup. Verification matters more in Nebraska than in states with lighter penalties, because an expired licence is not a technicality here. A holder of an expired licence may not install electrical equipment and must reapply and retest, so a contractor whose licence lapsed on December 31 of an even numbered year is not a lapsed licensee but an unlicensed one. Ask for the licence class, not just the licence. Electrical contractor, journeyman, residential journeyman wireman, fire alarm installer and the specialty classes all carry different scopes, and the residential class is valid only for residential installations. Ask which inspection authority covers the address, because in Omaha, Lincoln and the other listed municipal and county programmes the city or county inspects, while everywhere else the state does. Ask whether the firm carries the liability insurance Board Rule Number 7 requires, since failing to keep that policy in force is grounds for the board to revoke, suspend or refuse to renew the licence. All four answers are checkable before any money changes hands.
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These are common details other guides publish about Nebraska, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Nebraska State Electrical Division licenses electricians statewide for the State Electrical Board under the Nebraska State Electrical Act, sections 81-2101 through 81-2144. This is unlike plumbing in Nebraska, which is handled municipally.
Both. Journeyman, residential journeyman wireman, fire alarm installer and specialty licences go to the individual. The electrical contractor licence is issued separately, and apprentices register with the board.
At least one year of experience acceptable to the board as a licensed journeyman electrician. A four year electrical engineering degree plus one year as a licensed journeyman is the alternative route.
Four years of verifiable experience, which the division states as 8,000 hours. A two year post high school electrical course with an associate's degree earns one year of credit, with 700 contact hours equal to one year.
75 percent. Board Rule Number 9 sets a minimum of 50 questions, a maximum of three hours, and allows a slide rule or a numerical nonprogrammable calculator. PSI has been the vendor since October 1, 2023.
Fees are priced per year of a two year period. A licence issued in an odd numbered year covers both years, so an electrical contractor licence costs $375 in an odd year against $187.50 in an even year.
December 31 of every even numbered year. Renew from October 1 through November 30, or from December 1 through December 31 with a ten percent late fee added.
Twelve contact hours by January 1 of each odd numbered year, with a minimum of six of those hours on the National Electrical Code. Passing a board examination earns six hours of credit.
Board Rule Number 7 requires $100,000 for each person, $300,000 for each accident and $100,000 property damage. Only one qualifying licence holder per firm needs to maintain it.
The 2023 edition, NFPA 70-2023, adopted by statute and effective through the division from August 1, 2024. The 2017 edition still applies to sections 210.8(A), 210.8(A)(3), 210.8(A)(5), 230.67(A) and 230.85.
Journeyman reciprocity covers Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Contractor reciprocity covers only Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas.
A Class IV felony under section 81-2143 for knowingly and willfully performing electrical work for another without a proper licence while claiming to have one. Work for close family members is excepted.
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