South Dakota · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
South Dakota licenses electricians at state level through the State Electrical Commission, and it licenses the individual by grade rather than the company. SDCL 36-16-2 sets apprentice, journeyman, Class B and electrical contractor grades. Only an electrical contractor may hold a general electrical contract. The contractor grade takes 8,000 apprentice hours plus 4,000 journeyman hours.
State-level license
Yes
Public lookup
Not published
Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
South Dakota licenses electrical work at state level and it licenses human beings, not companies. SDCL 36-16-1 says any person, firm, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation engaged or offering to engage in business as an electrical contractor, or any person performing the work defined in the chapter, shall obtain a license from the State Electrical Commission before undertaking and performing the work. SDCL 36-16-13 repeats the requirement for anyone who for a fixed sum, price, fee, percentage, or other consideration undertakes or offers to undertake with another to plan, lay out, supervise, install, make additions, make alterations, or make repairs in the installation of wiring, apparatus, or equipment for electric lights, heat, or power, and says the commission shall issue a license in the class defined under SDCL 36-16-2 for which the person applies after successful completion of the required examination. SDCL 36-16-22 allows for a partnership or corporate license, but the grades themselves are personal credentials tied to documented experience hours. The commission describes its own remit as administering the state laws and regulations concerning electrical wiring, inspecting wiring installations, investigating complaints related to electrical wiring, and licensing all electricians within the state. It also warns on its own homepage that it should not be confused with the South Dakota Electrical Council, a non-profit trade organization. The commission is self-supporting and funds itself from fees charged to applicants and licensees.
SDCL 36-16-3 creates the State Electrical Commission as the successor to the former State Electrical Board and sets it at seven members appointed by the Governor for three year terms, with no member serving more than three consecutive full terms and not all members from the same political party. The composition is prescribed: one member must represent an electric utility, one must be a licensed electrical contractor, one must be a licensed electrician holding at least a journeyman level license, and one must have fire safety expertise. SDCL 36-16-4 requires the Governor to appoint one member involved in the education of electrical engineers or electricians, and 36-16-4.1 provides for lay members. SDCL 36-16-8.1 continues the commission within the Department of Labor and Regulation, and SDCL 36-16-9 directs collections into an electrical commission fund. The commission office is at 217 West Missouri Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota 57501, with a published phone number of 605.773.3573, a fax of 605.773.6213 and an email address of electrical@state.sd.us. Meetings are open to the public, with agendas and minutes posted on the commission website and on the State of South Dakota Boards and Commissions portal after approval. SDCL 36-16-12 gives the commission a seal and the power to promulgate rules, which live in Article 20:44 of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota. The commission's own laws and rules page points licensees to SDCL Chapter 36-16 for the statutes, ARSD 20:44:16 for qualifications and licenses, ARSD 20:44:17 for continuing education and ARSD 20:44:20 for inspection fees.
SDCL 36-16-2 defines the grades. An electrical contractor is a person having the necessary qualifications, training, experience, and technical knowledge to plan, lay out, and supervise the installation and repair of electrical wiring, apparatus, and equipment for electric light, heat and power, and who undertakes or offers to undertake with another to plan for, lay out, supervise and install or to make additions, alterations and repairs in the installation of such work. A journeyman electrician is a person with at least four years of experience in wiring, installing, and repairing electrical apparatus and equipment. A Class B electrician is a person with at least thirty-six months of experience in the same work. An apprentice electrician is a person learning the trade under the supervision and employment of an electrical contractor, journeyman electrician or Class B electrician. The definition also covers electrical inspectors, maintenance electricians and 501(d) electricians, the last restricted to wiring on 501(d) properties. The contracting line is drawn by SDCL 36-16-14: no contract, agreement, or understanding with another for the installation of electrical wiring or the installation of electrical parts of other apparatus may be entered into by anyone who is not an electrical contractor, except that a Class B electrician may contract with authority limited to farm electrical wiring, residential electrical wiring, and the installation of electrical equipment, appliances and apparatus in relation to that farm and residential wiring. A journeyman may perform the work but may not hold the contract. ARSD 20:44:16:21 adds a maintenance electrician license for a public or private entity employing people to do maintenance electrical work on land and facilities it owns or leases, with a separate license required for each county.
South Dakota counts hours, and the hours only count if you were licensed while you worked them. ARSD 20:44:16:06 defines one year of experience as 2,000 hours. The commission's licensing page states the ladder directly: after completing four years, for a total of 8,000 hours, as a licensed apprentice electrician working under the employment and supervision of an electrical contractor, you are ready to write the journeyman's exam. It then takes another two years as a licensed journeyman, with a total of 4,000 hours of additional work under the employment and supervision of a contractor including a minimum of 2,000 hours of commercial work, to write the electrical contractor's exam. The commission adds in bold terms that experience hours must be licensed in order for your working time to count toward the hours required to take the exams, which is the single most common way applicants lose years. SDCL 36-16-19 sets the statutory floor for the contractor grade at least two years of experience as a journeyman electrician or at least one year of commercial experience as a Class B electrician before applying. ARSD 20:44:16:09 allows units of time for schooling or other experience toward the advancement requirement, including time at a wiring school as described in ARSD 20:44:16:12, work as an electrical lineman under 20:44:16:13, and an electrical wiring apprenticeship program under 20:44:16:14, with a valid school transcript required for the school route. A wiring school under ARSD 20:44:14:01 is a postsecondary school teaching one or more electrical wiring courses covering the listed topics and including at least five hundred seventy-six hours of instruction on those topics. SDCL 36-16-22 requires evidence of experience before a license issues.
There is no lawful unregistered apprentice hour in South Dakota. SDCL 36-16-21 requires an apprentice to register with the State Electrical Commission, allows the commission to set a biennial registration fee not to exceed twenty dollars, notes that biennial fee requirements apply in even-numbered years, and states that the apprentice may not be allowed to work on an installation without personal supervision. ARSD 20:44:16:17 sets the actual biennial apprentice registration fee at $20, payable with the initial registration or the renewal. ARSD 20:44:16:05 splits supervision by site type. On commercial sites or projects, apprentice electricians must be personally supervised on site by an electrician holding an electrical contractor, journeyman, or 501(d) license. On other than commercial projects, the apprentice must be provided with daily personal supervision by an electrician holding an electrical contractor, Class B, journeyman, or 501(d) license. ARSD 20:44:16:10 governs how an apprentice electrician's experience is counted. Apprentices are also inside the continuing education net: ARSD 20:44:17:01 lists apprentice electricians alongside electrical inspectors, electrical contractors, journeymen and Class B electricians as required to obtain sixteen hours of continuing education every two years for biennial renewal of a license or registration. For a contractor building a crew, the practical sequence is register the apprentice with the commission first, supervise to the rule, and keep the registration current, because the commission will not count unlicensed time later when that apprentice applies to sit the journeyman exam.
ARSD 20:44:16:03 says the examination for a wiring license consists of written questions composed and approved by the commission, with the questions or problems derived from the National Electrical Code and from state statutes and rules. The passing score is 70 percent for an electrical contractor, Class B electrician, journeyman, or 501(d) electrician, and 80 percent for an electrical inspector. An applicant who fails is notified of eligibility to be re-examined in 30 days, and an applicant who fails a reexamination must wait 90 days before being examined again. Once you pass, the license issuance process must be completed within 90 days after notification of passing or the examination is forfeited. The commission's exam page adds the procedural half: you must meet the requirements for the license you have chosen, you must submit an application with the required application fee to the commission office before testing, and once the application is approved the commission sends the details needed to locate the exam site. You then have 90 days to make those arrangements, and you may not take the exam without prior written approval. The commission states that as of December 2, 2024, all tests are on the 2023 National Electrical Code. SDCL 36-16-13 caps what the commission or a third party administrator may charge for the test at one hundred fifty dollars per examination or reexamination, and caps the application fee at one hundred dollars per occurrence. ARSD 20:44:16:04 sets the application fee actually charged at $60 for every class, including electrical contractor, Class B, journeyman, electrical inspector, 501(d) and each inactive equivalent, and states the fee is nonrefundable whether or not the application is approved.
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SDCL 36-16-17 caps the biennial license fees and ARSD 20:44:16:15 sets the amounts the commission actually charges. The biennial license fee is $200 for an electrical contractor, $80 for a journeyman electrician, $100 for a Class B electrician, $100 for an electrical inspector, $80 for a 501(d) electrician, and $80 for an inactive electrical contractor, inactive Class B electrician, inactive journeyman electrician or inactive 501(d) electrician. The statute sets the ceilings slightly differently in places, allowing up to two hundred dollars for a Class B electrician and up to one hundred twenty dollars for an electrical inspector, a maintenance electrician and a 501(d) electrician, so the rule is the operative number and the statute is the cap. Application fees are $60 per class under ARSD 20:44:16:04 and are paid on top of the license fee. A temporary journeyman electrician license fee is $10 under ARSD 20:44:16:16. The biennial apprentice registration fee is $20. ARSD 20:44:16:21 sets an $80 fee for each maintenance electrician license application, and a separate license is required for each county in which the entity's employees perform maintenance electrical work. ARSD 20:44:16:18 allows reinstatement of a lapsed license within one year of the expiration date on payment of a $50 reinstatement fee plus the license fee, both nonrefundable, and requires a person who fails to renew within one year of expiration to apply for a new license and take the examination again. Payments accompany the application, and the commission states that applications are processed after payment is received.
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South Dakota does not ask an electrical contractor for a conventional surety bond alone. SDCL 36-16-20 requires an applicant to execute and deposit with the State Electrical Commission an undertaking in the sum of ten thousand dollars, together with a public liability insurance policy in a sum of not less than one hundred thousand dollars per occurrence and three hundred thousand dollars aggregate limit for bodily injury, and property damage insurance with limits of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars per occurrence or a combined single limit of three hundred thousand dollars, or security approved by the commission in an equal sum. The undertaking is conditioned on the faithful performance of all electrical work undertaken by the electrician and on strict compliance with the chapter and the requirements of the commission. The requirement applies to electrical contractors and Class B electricians. Both the undertaking and the liability insurance must be in force at all times with certificates of insurance on file in the commission office, and SDCL 36-16-25 makes filing a valid liability insurance policy a condition of renewal. In addition, a deposit of fifty dollars is made with the commission at the time the undertaking is executed and biennially at renewal. Those deposits accumulate in a special fund used to correct or complete installations the contractor refuses or is unable to correct, and for uncollectable inspection fees and enforcement costs, with disbursement capped at ten thousand dollars per occurrence. The commission waives the renewal deposit for electricians who have made an initial deposit if the fund exceeds fifty thousand dollars at renewal. In a partnership or corporation, the licensed person is exempt from the insurance or undertaking requirement if the employer satisfies it.
SDCL 36-16-25 sets each license at a term of two years, expiring at midnight on June thirtieth following the date of issuance of each even-numbered year, and allows renewal by the commission on application of the holder, payment of the fee, filing a valid liability insurance policy and payment of the required deposit to the special fund at any time within thirty days from that expiration. Continuing education is the gate. ARSD 20:44:17:01 requires sixteen hours of continuing education credits every two years for biennial renewal of a license or registration by electrical inspectors, electrical contractors, journeyman electricians, Class B electricians, and apprentice electricians. ARSD 20:44:17:03 requires a minimum of one-half of those hours to be on the National Electrical Code, with the remainder either on the code or on electric circuit theory, blueprint reading, transformer and motor theory, electric circuits and devices, control systems, programmable controllers, microcomputers, or safety. ARSD 20:44:17:02 allows one credit hour for each 50 minutes attended, permits courses taken in or outside South Dakota, and allows up to eight credit hours per biennial renewal for commission pre-approved correspondence or interactive online courses. The commission's own pages put it as sixteen hours with a minimum of eight code hours, only eight of which may be online. Licensees obtaining a license in the first year of a biennium must meet the scheduled continuing education requirement for renewal; those licensed in the second year are not required to meet it until their second renewal. Licensed and registered electricians called into active military service are exempt for 12 months following release. The commission requires copies of continuing education completion certificates with the renewal.
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SDCL 36-16-23 authorises the commission to grant a license of the same grade or class to electricians registered or licensed by other states, to the extent those states provide for similar action, on payment of the required fee and after being furnished with proof that the applicant's qualifications are equal to those of holders of a similar South Dakota license. The commission publishes the working list. To use a reciprocal agreement you must have earned the other state's license by examination and have held it in active status for at least one year unless otherwise specified. The commission names existing agreements with Alaska for journeyman only, Arkansas for journeyman and master electrician, Colorado for journeyman with no contractor equivalent, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, New Hampshire and Texas for journeyman and master electrician, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming for journeyman and electrical contractor, New Mexico for journeyman only, and Oklahoma for journeyman and unlimited electrical contractor. Maine, Vermont and Wisconsin are listed as part of the NERA group without existing agreements with South Dakota. The commission also publishes a longer table of states with similar licensing requirements, which is not the same thing as an agreement, and a further list of states with unverified requirements where it asks applicants to call. ARSD 20:44:16:11 sets a biennial reciprocity fee. The commission warns that reciprocating states may require additional education or supervision and may use score levels differing from South Dakota, so the agreement is a starting point rather than an automatic transfer.
SDCL 36-16-1 makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor for any person, firm, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation to engage in business as an electrical contractor or to perform the work defined in the chapter unless the provisions of the chapter are complied with. SDCL 36-16-34 repeats it for failure to register, to obtain a license, or to report wiring described by SDCL 36-16-15. SDCL 22-6-2 sets the penalty for a Class 2 misdemeanor at thirty days imprisonment in a county jail or a five hundred dollar fine, or both, and requires the court to order restitution to any victim. SDCL 36-16-15 also makes failure to report owner-installed wiring a Class 2 misdemeanor. On the licensing side, SDCL 36-16-33 lets the commission refuse to issue, revoke, or suspend a license, or limit the scope of practice of any licensee, for failure to comply with any law or any rule or order of the commission, failure to comply with the National Electric Code as adopted by rule of the commission or local ordinance, failure to notify the commission in writing within thirty days following any denial, revocation, or suspension of a certificate, license, or permit issued by any other jurisdiction or any change of address or employment, knowingly aiding and abetting an unlicensed or unpermitted person to do work that requires a license or permit, and conviction of or plea to a crime of violence as defined under SDCL 22-1-2. SDCL 36-16-34.1 provides for an action for injunction. SDCL 36-16-31 lets inspectors condemn hazardous installations, and SDCL 36-16-32 bars reconnection until the condemned installation is corrected.
SDCL 36-16-27 requires all electrical wiring, apparatus, or equipment to comply with the rules adopted by the commission, and provides that no new electrical service entrance except for communication service may be connected for use until a wiring permit has been furnished to the person, firm, or corporation supplying electrical energy certifying that a wiring permit has been obtained. The statute caps a wiring permit fee at fifteen dollars and caps late wiring permit procedure and failure to renew permit fees at seven hundred fifty dollars. The commission's published inspection fee schedule, effective July 1, 2025, prices wiring permits at $20 each or a book of 20 for $400. A minimum inspection fee of $150 applies if a calculated fee comes to less than that, and inspections beyond the allotted number are assessed at $150 per hour for the first hour and $37.50 per 15 minutes thereafter. New houses at 0 to 200 amps are $208 with one rough-in and one final inspection; 201 to 400 amps are $390 with two rough-ins and one final. New services run $78 plus circuits at 0 to 200 amps, $98 plus circuits at 201 to 400 amps, $130 plus circuits at 401 to 800 amps, $195 plus circuits at 801 to 1600 amps and $358 plus circuits above that. Replacement services run $130 to $260 plus new circuits by ampacity. Circuits are priced from $7 at 0 to 30 amps. The commission states that all electrical wiring installations must be inspected by a state electrical inspector, that a rough-in and a final are required, and that a final sticker is placed near the service panel after the final inspection.
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This is the short section, and the shortness is the finding. SDCL Chapter 36-16 contains no requirement to display a license number on a vehicle, a sign, a website, an estimate or an invoice, and no advertising content rule. Article 20:44 of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota, as reproduced in the commission's own Wiring Bulletin, likewise sets no advertising or display mandate for electrical contractors. The only place a license number is compelled onto a document is administrative: ARSD 20:44:21:02(4)(b) requires a municipal government or power supplier operating an approved local inspection system to report monthly to the commission with a printout that includes the electrical contractor's name and the electrical contractor's state license number for each permit issued. What does constrain how you present yourself is the grade itself. Because SDCL 36-16-14 reserves contracting to electrical contractors, with a Class B electrician limited by statute to farm and residential wiring and related equipment, a journeyman electrician cannot hold himself out as available to contract for electrical work, and a Class B electrician cannot offer to contract for commercial work. SDCL 36-16-33(1) makes failure to comply with any law, rule or order of the commission a ground for discipline, which is the hook for misrepresenting a grade. Two practical consequences follow. Advertise the grade you hold using the commission's own vocabulary, and keep the commission notified of any change of address or employment within thirty days, because SDCL 36-16-33(3) makes that failure a disciplinary matter in its own right.
South Dakota is on the 2023 National Electrical Code. The commission states that all permits received on or after Tuesday, November 12, 2024 are inspected using the 2023 NEC, and that as of December 2, 2024 all tests are on the 2023 code. The rule that carries the adoption is ARSD 20:44:14:01, whose source line records the amendment at 51 SDR 54, effective November 12, 2024, and whose references cite the National Electrical Code, 2023 Edition, published by the National Fire Protection Association, together with the 2021 International Building Code. The commission publishes the three state exceptions to the 2023 NEC on its resources page and summarises them as 210.8(F) ground fault circuit interrupter protection for outdoor outlets serving air conditioning units, 210.8(A) ground fault circuit interrupter protection for properly labeled recreational vehicle receptacles, and 210.8(D)(8) through (12) ground fault circuit interrupter protection for specific appliances listed in dwelling units only. The previous cycle, the 2020 code adoption effective July 1, 2020, carried four exceptions covering 210.8(F), 230.67 surge protection, 210.8(A) for 250 volt receptacles and 406.9(C) bathroom ground fault protection. SDCL 36-16-33(2) makes failure to comply with the National Electric Code as adopted by rule of the commission or by local ordinance a ground for refusing, revoking or suspending a license, so the adopted edition is enforceable against the license and not only against the installation.
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Most of South Dakota is inspected by the commission's own district inspectors, and the commission publishes the district map, the inspector list by city and by county, and direct contact details for each. Two cities are the exception. The commission states on its inspections page that Rapid City and Sioux Falls have local inspection departments for work done within their city limits, and directs contractors working inside those limits to the local inspection system. ARSD 20:44:18:05 confirms that a wiring permit is required in areas where local inspection systems have been approved under ARSD Chapter 20:44:21, and adds a note telling installers to consult the local inspection system offices for procedure, inspection fees, and regulations. ARSD 20:44:21:02 sets what a municipality or power supplier must commit to before the commission approves a local system, including employing a minimum of two full-time South Dakota state-licensed electrical inspectors, inspecting all new services within its jurisdiction, and setting local inspection fees equal to or greater than those required by the commission. SDCL 36-16-35 preserves local power more broadly: nothing in the chapter prohibits any municipality, rural electric cooperative, private utility, or political subdivision from making and enforcing more stringent requirements than the chapter sets, and those requirements must be complied with. One protection runs the other way. SDCL 36-16-20 states that no electrical contractor or Class B electrician licensed under the chapter need furnish any additional undertaking for a municipal license, so the $10,000 state undertaking is not duplicated city by city.
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South Dakota has an unusual gap for a licensing state. The State Electrical Commission's website carries pages for licensing, forms, exams, reciprocal agreements, continuing education, inspections, inspection fees, homeowner wiring, the wiring bulletin, complaints and commission information, and it publishes no public license search or verification tool alongside them. The Department of Labor and Regulation runs public lookups for other programs it administers, but none appears for electrical licensure. The practical route for a customer, a general contractor or a utility is the commission office itself at 605.773.3573 or electrical@state.sd.us, and the commission also directs consumers to its complaints page for wiring complaints. For a contractor, the absence of a public database changes what your own marketing has to carry. A prospect cannot resolve a doubt with a search, so the license grade, the license number and the commission's contact details belong on the estimate rather than being left for the customer to find. The permit trail is the other public artifact: SDCL 36-16-28 requires work done to be reported to the commission, SDCL 36-16-29 covers state inspectors and the report of inspection, and the commission places a final sticker near the service panel once the work passes final inspection. That sticker, the wiring permit and the inspector's report are what a buyer, an appraiser or an insurer will find on the property, which makes pulling the permit in your own licensed name the cheapest marketing asset available in this state.
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These are common details other guides publish about South Dakota, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. SDCL 36-16-1 and 36-16-13 require a license from the State Electrical Commission before anyone engages in business as an electrical contractor or performs the work defined in the chapter. The commission licenses all electricians within the state.
The individual. The grades in SDCL 36-16-2 are personal credentials tied to documented experience hours. SDCL 36-16-22 provides for a partnership or corporate license, but the qualification runs through a licensed person.
The commission states four years as a licensed apprentice electrician, a total of 8,000 hours, working under the employment and supervision of an electrical contractor. ARSD 20:44:16:06 defines one year of experience as 2,000 hours.
The commission states another two years as a licensed journeyman, a total of 4,000 additional hours under the employment and supervision of a contractor, including a minimum of 2,000 hours of commercial work. SDCL 36-16-19 sets the statutory floor at two years as a journeyman or one year of commercial experience as a Class B electrician.
SDCL 36-16-14 lets a Class B electrician enter into a contract for the installation of electrical wiring, with authority limited to farm electrical wiring, residential electrical wiring, and the installation of electrical equipment, appliances and apparatus related to that wiring.
ARSD 20:44:16:03 sets the passing score at 70 percent for an electrical contractor, Class B electrician, journeyman or 501(d) electrician, and 80 percent for an electrical inspector. Tests have been written on the 2023 NEC since December 2, 2024.
ARSD 20:44:16:04 sets a $60 application fee and ARSD 20:44:16:15 sets the biennial license fee at $200 for an electrical contractor, $80 for a journeyman and $100 for a Class B electrician.
SDCL 36-16-20 requires a $10,000 undertaking deposited with the commission plus public liability insurance of not less than $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate, with property damage limits of not less than $25,000 per occurrence or a combined single limit of $300,000, plus a $50 deposit at execution and at each biennial renewal.
Sixteen hours every two years under ARSD 20:44:17:01, with at least half on the National Electrical Code under ARSD 20:44:17:03, and no more than eight hours from commission pre-approved correspondence or online courses under ARSD 20:44:17:02.
SDCL 36-16-25 sets a two year term expiring at midnight on June thirtieth of each even-numbered year, renewable within thirty days of expiration on payment of the fee, filing of a valid liability insurance policy and payment of the special fund deposit.
SDCL Chapter 36-16 and ARSD Article 20:44 as published in the commission's Wiring Bulletin set no vehicle, sign, website, estimate or invoice display requirement for electrical licensees.
The 2023 edition. The commission inspects all permits received on or after November 12, 2024 under the 2023 NEC, with three state exceptions covering 210.8(F), 210.8(A) for labeled recreational vehicle receptacles, and 210.8(D)(8) through (12).
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.