Texas · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
Texas licenses both the electrician and the business. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation issues graded individual licenses from apprentice through residential wireman, journeyman and master, and a separate Electrical Contractor license to the company. TDLR requires non-exempt electrical work to be performed through a licensed electrical contractor, and that contractor must employ a licensed Master Electrician as its master of record.
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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.
Texas does not license electricians through the plumbing board. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation runs the Electricians program, and TDLR states the rule in one sentence on its program page: anyone who performs, or offers to perform, non-exempt electrical work in Texas must be licensed and must perform that work through a licensed electrical contractor. That is two credentials, not one. The person holds a graded individual license. The business holds an Electrical Contractor license. A sole owner who wires houses alone still needs both, because the individual license authorises the work and the contractor license authorises the business to sell it. TDLR lists eleven individual licenses and three business licenses in the Electricians program. On the individual side the ladder runs Apprentice Electrician, Residential Wireman, Journeyman Electrician, Master Electrician, with Maintenance Electrician, Journeyman Industrial Electrician and Journeyman Lineman sitting off to the side and a parallel sign ladder of Electrical Sign Apprentice, Journeyman Sign Electrician and Master Sign Electrician. On the business side TDLR issues the Electrical Contractor license, the Electrical Sign Contractor license and the Residential Appliance Installation Contractor license. The program is advised by the Electrical Safety and Licensing Advisory Board, whose members TDLR publishes by name, city and seat category, including master electrician seats held for a statewide association and journeyman seats held for a labor organization.
The scope language matters when you quote work, because it decides who on your crew can do it. TDLR defines a Master Electrician as licensed to install, maintain or extend an electrical wiring system and the appurtenances, apparatus or equipment used in connection with electrical energy in, on, outside or attached to a building, residence, structure, property or premises, including service entrance conductors. A Journeyman Electrician performs that same electrical work under the general supervision of a Master Electrician. A Residential Wireman is licensed only to perform electrical installations in single-family and multifamily dwellings not exceeding four stories, which is the ceiling to watch if you take a five-story apartment job. A Maintenance Electrician performs electrical maintenance work under the general supervision of a Master Electrician. An Electrical Apprentice performs electrical work under the general supervision of a Master Electrician, Journeyman Electrician or Residential Wireman. The Electrical Contractor license itself is a business authorization: TDLR describes it as engaging in the business of designing, installing, erecting, repairing or altering electrical wires or conductors used for light, heat, power or signaling, including ducts, raceways and conduits and any electrical machinery, apparatus or system used for those purposes. TDLR defines electrical work throughout as any labor or material used in installing, maintaining or extending an electrical wiring system, and expressly includes service entrance conductors as defined by the National Electrical Code.
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TDLR requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job training under the supervision of a Texas-licensed Master Electrician for a Journeyman Electrician license. The department opens the exam earlier than that. Its application page says submitting at least 7,000 hours of on-the-job training will allow you to take the examination before reaching the full 8,000 hours required for licensure. That thousand-hour gap is worth planning around when you are trying to move a good apprentice up before a busy season. The hours are not self-certified. You contact each Master Electrician who supervised you and have each one complete and sign an Experience Verification Form, and each supervisor completes a new form. TDLR says it may contact those individuals to verify the experience. If you cannot reach a former supervisor, TDLR suggests contacting the electrical contractor the master worked under, or using the TDLR license search to find contact information. The application is submitted by mail with a non-refundable application fee of $30. Applicants have one year from the date TDLR receives the application to satisfy every requirement including passing the examination. Since July 1, 2026 there is a second route: the Commission adopted a new rule at 16 TAC section 73.112 creating an accelerated licensure pathway for graduates of an approved accelerated journeyman electrician education program, with rules covering program eligibility, on-the-job training credit and examination eligibility.
The master license is the one that lets a company exist, so the requirement is the one a contractor plans a hire around. TDLR requires you to have held a Journeyman Electrician license for at least two years and to show 12,000 hours of on-the-job training under the supervision of a Texas-licensed Master Electrician. TDLR adds a specific exclusion that catches people out: Journeyman Industrial Electrician experience may not be used to qualify for a Master Electrician license. There is one self-verification allowance. If you hold or have held a municipal or regional master electrician's license, TDLR lets you verify your own on-the-job training for the years you held that license, which matters in the Texas cities that licensed masters locally before the state program. Everything else runs through the same Experience Verification Form signed by each supervising master. The master application is filed by mail with a non-refundable application fee of $45. Once issued, the license runs one year from the date of issuance and is renewed annually. A master electrician is also the pivot point for the contractor license: TDLR allows a Master Electrician to be assigned to only a single Electrical Contractor unless the master owns more than 50 percent of the electrical contracting business, in which case the license can be assigned to more than one company.
Three licenses sit below journeyman and each has a different door. The Residential Wireman license takes either proof of completion of an approved career and technology education program or 4,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed Master Electrician or Residential Wireman. The application fee is $20 and the scope is capped at single-family and multifamily dwellings of not more than four stories. The Maintenance Electrician license takes 8,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed Master Electrician or Maintenance Electrician, also $20, and the holder works under the general supervision of a master. The Electrical Apprentice license has no experience requirement and no examination requirement at all. You apply online with a non-refundable $20 fee, and TDLR says apprentice applicants who register online and report no criminal convictions are automatically issued a temporary license. That last detail is the practical one for a growing crew: a new hire can be licensed and productive quickly, so long as the apprentice works under the general supervision of a master, journeyman or residential wireman. Every one of these licenses runs for one year from issuance and renews annually. TDLR runs a criminal history background check on everyone who applies for or renews, reviews convictions case by case, and offers a Criminal History Evaluation Letter so an applicant can find out before spending the fee.
This is the license that lets you sign contracts. TDLR requires an Electrical Contractor applicant to employ a licensed Master Electrician, and notes the Master Electrician may also be the business owner. The master may only be assigned to a single Electrical Contractor unless the master owns more than 50 percent of the electrical contracting business. When your master of record leaves, you must notify the department and designate a new Master Electrician of record within thirty business days from the date of separation, filed by mail on the Electrical Contractor Notice of Change and Duplicate License Request form. Insurance is a condition of the license, not an afterthought. TDLR requires business liability insurance of at least $300,000 per occurrence combined for property damage and bodily injury, at least $600,000 aggregate, and at least $300,000 aggregate for products and completed operations, proved on the TDLR Electrical Contractor Certificate of Insurance Form filed with the application. On workers compensation you must supply one of three things: proof of coverage, a certificate of authority to self-insure, or a statement that you have elected not to obtain it under Subchapter A, Chapter 406, Labor Code, in which case you file an online notice of no coverage with the Texas Department of Insurance. The contractor application fee is $110, and TDLR runs the criminal history check with fingerprinting for contractor applicants.
TDLR delivers electrician examinations through PSI at test centres across the state, including Abilene, Amarillo, Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Harlingen, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen, Midland, San Antonio, Tyler and Waco. You are approved to sit only after the completed application and fee have been received and verified. The examination is open book and you bring your own National Electrical Code. TDLR will not allow loose-leaf, spiral-bound or ring-bound copies into the room, only a soft-bound edition. A score of 70 percent or better is required to pass, the proctor hands you the grade at the centre, and PSI reports results to TDLR electronically. You may retake as many times as needed, paying the examination fee each time. TDLR split the Journeyman Electrician exam into two separate parts, a knowledge portion and a calculations portion, starting March 11, 2025, and the same structure applies to the master exam. The TDLR candidate information bulletin published by PSI sets the Master Electrician examination fee at $78 for both portions, with the NEC knowledge portion at 75 items in 150 minutes and the calculations portion at 33 items in 170 minutes. The Journeyman Electrician fee is also $78 for both portions, 59 items in 130 minutes and 26 items in 110 minutes. Maintenance Electrician is 60 items in 180 minutes at $64, and Residential Wireman is 80 items in 240 minutes at $64.
Texas electrical license fees are small compared with the insurance behind them, and they are all annual. Initial application fees are $30 for a Journeyman Electrician, $45 for a Master Electrician, $20 for a Residential Wireman, $20 for a Maintenance Electrician, $20 for an Electrical Apprentice and $110 for an Electrical Contractor. Renewal fees match: $30 journeyman, $45 master, $20 residential wireman and $110 for the contractor license. Every one of these licenses is valid for one year from the date of issuance and must be renewed annually, and renewals are completed online. Let one lapse and the cost rises on a published schedule. A Master Electrician license expired 90 days or less renews at $67.50, and at $90 from 91 days through 36 months. A Journeyman Electrician expired 90 days or less renews at $45, and at $60 from 91 days through 36 months. A Residential Wireman expired 90 days or less renews at $30, and at $40 from 91 days through 36 months. An Electrical Contractor license expired 90 days or less renews at $165. Once a license has been expired more than 18 months you must apply by mail and attach a Request to Executive Director for Expired License Renewal Form. Past three years the license cannot be renewed at all and you re-apply as a new applicant, which for a master means proving the experience again.
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TDLR requires 4 hours of continuing education before each renewal from Master Electricians, Journeyman Electricians, Journeyman Linemen, Journeyman Industrial Electricians, Residential Wiremen, Maintenance Electricians, Master Sign Electricians, Journeyman Sign Electricians, Electrical Apprentices and Electrical Sign Apprentices. Two groups are carved out. TDLR states that Contractors and Residential Appliance Installers are not required to complete continuing education, so the business license itself carries no hours. Apprentices may satisfy the requirement either by taking the four hours or by being enrolled in a department-registered electrical apprenticeship training course. The four hours are not free-choice. TDLR requires the coursework to address the National Electrical Code as adopted under Title 8, Occupations Code section 1305.101 or the current NFPA edition, the Texas Electrician Law in Title 8, Occupations Code, Chapter 1305, the Texas electrician administrative rules in Title 16, Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 73, and electrical safety as defined in NFPA 70E. If you already took four hours of NEC content only, TDLR requires an additional approved course of at least one hour in the law, rules or NFPA 70E safety. Courses must come from a TDLR-registered provider, one hour means 50 minutes of instruction, no course counts twice, and partial completion is not accepted. Hold multiple licenses and you still owe a total of four hours. Keep the completion certificate for one year, because a TDLR inspector may ask for it.
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TDLR publishes its reciprocal agreements by state and by license, and the list has grown recently. For Master Electrician, Texas recognizes Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa Class A master electrician, Louisiana state contractor's license, Nebraska, North Carolina master electrician or unlimited electrical contractor, and Ohio. For Journeyman Electrician, Texas recognizes Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming. TDLR states there are currently no reciprocal agreements for any other license type, so a residential wireman or a sign license does not travel. The underlying requirements are specific. A master applicant must have taken and passed the reciprocal statewide examination, held the reciprocal license at least one year, have at least 12,000 hours under the supervision of a master electrician, and have held a journeyman license for at least two years, reduced to one year for Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio. A journeyman applicant must have passed the other state's examination, held the license at least one year, and have at least 8,000 hours under a master. The reciprocity license fee is $45 for master and $30 for journeyman, and most states also require a letter of good standing showing you passed that state's statewide examination. Louisiana carries an extra condition: TDLR states you must be a resident of Louisiana to qualify for a Texas Master Electrician license by reciprocity. TDLR announced the Arkansas agreement in December 2025, Iowa in February 2026, Alabama in March 2026 and Ohio in June 2026.
TDLR publishes a penalty matrix for the Electricians program that ties each violation to a statute or rule and to a class. Class A violations carry a fine between $500 and $2,000. Class B violations carry a fine between $1,000 and $3,500 and up to one year of full suspension. Class C violations carry a fine between $2,000 and $5,000 plus one year probated suspension up to revocation. Class D violations carry a fine of $5,000 and revocation. Performing or offering to perform electrical work without the appropriate license, cited to Occupations Code section 1305.151, is a Class C violation. So is designing an electrical system without the appropriate license or subcontracting that design to an unlicensed person, cited to 16 TAC sections 73.51(c) and 73.52(c), failing to ensure all electrical work was performed by licensed individuals, and failing to provide all electrical work through a licensed contractor under 16 TAC section 73.70(a). Working on an expired license is treated separately, as a Class B unlicensed-activity violation under 16 TAC sections 73.22(b) and 73.23(d). Lending a number is Class B on both sides: using a license number not assigned to the contractor by the department, using a license belonging to another person, and allowing another person to use your license are all listed. Failing to maintain the minimum general liability insurance is a Class B violation under 16 TAC section 73.40(a), which is why the insurance minimums are not optional paperwork.
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This is the half most Texas electrical contractors trip over, and TDLR enforces it by rule number. Advertising: failing to include the contractor name and license number in advertising is a listed violation under 16 TAC sections 73.51(e), 73.52(e), 73.54(d) and 73.70(g), and it is a Class A violation carrying a fine between $500 and $2,000. Vehicles: Occupations Code section 1305.166(a) and 16 TAC section 73.51(d) require the business name and contractor license number on each vehicle used in the conduct of electrical work. Section 1305.166(b)(2) requires the number and business name to be permanently affixed in a conspicuous place on both sides of each vehicle, and section 1305.166(b)(1) requires characters at least two inches high in a color that contrasts with the background. TDLR's compliance guide adds the format: an Electrical Contractor number must be preceded by TECL, so license number 1234 reads TECL 1234. An Electrical Sign Contractor uses TSCL and a Residential Appliance Installation Contractor uses TICL. Paperwork: TDLR requires the contractor's name, address, phone number and license number on all proposals, invoices and written contracts, under 16 TAC sections 73.51(f), 73.52(f) and 73.54(e). All invoices and written contracts must also carry this sentence: Regulated by The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, P.O. Box 12157, Austin, Texas, 78711, 1-800-803-9202, 512-463-6599; website: www.tdlr.texas.gov/complaints. Advertising that is false, misleading or deceptive is separately a Class C violation under 16 TAC section 73.70(g).
Two TDLR sources disagree right now, so both are given here. The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation adopted amendments to 16 TAC section 73.100 that adopt the 2026 National Electrical Code as the state electrical code, with a limited exception relating to ground-fault circuit interrupter requirements for certain outdoor outlets. TDLR states the adoption justification was published in the August 28, 2026 issue of the Texas Register at 51 TexReg 5776, and that the updated rule chapter takes effect September 1, 2026. The Houston Permitting Center confirms the same date from the city side, stating the 2026 NEC has been adopted by the State of Texas and becomes effective September 1, 2026, and that all permit applications submitted on or after the state-mandated effective date will be reviewed against the new state minimum electrical code. Against that, TDLR's own electrician compliance guide still reads that TDLR has adopted the National Electric Code 2023 Edition as it existed on August 25, 2022, effective September 1, 2023, and the TDLR exam page still names the 2023 edition as the open-book reference. The TDLR candidate information bulletin carries a banner saying that effective September 1, 2026 the examinations will be referenced to the 2026 NEC. Treat the 2026 NEC as the operative state code from September 1, 2026 and check with your local authority before a permit, because TDLR also states that if a permit is required the installation follows the state code in force when the permit was obtained.
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State licensing did not end city involvement, but it capped it. TDLR's compliance guide addresses this directly: a municipality can require you to register in addition to holding a state electrician's license, but it may not charge a fee to do so. TDLR points to Occupations Code section 1305.201, which prohibits a city from collecting certain fees from an electrician holding a state electrical license, and to the Senate Research Center analysis of HB 3329, whose intent TDLR reads as stopping cities charging electricians a fee to register their state license. TDLR is explicit that this does not stop a city collecting a building permit fee. Houston, the largest city in the state, still runs registration through its Electrical Inspections section. The Houston Permitting Center states that you must register or renew your Texas Electrical Master and Contractor Licenses with the City of Houston, by email, with a copy of your driver's license or identification and a notarized License Registration and Update Form, following the Registration and Renewal Guideline form CE-1203. Houston adds a local limit that mirrors the state rule: effective April 1, 2022, per Section 404, the master electrician of record shall not have a city electrical contractor's registration for more than one contracting business. Inspections are a city job everywhere. TDLR states that the local licensing or inspecting authority is responsible for inspecting work in its area and that TDLR does not perform permit inspections.
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TDLR publishes a dedicated exemptions page, and knowing it keeps you from bidding work you cannot sell and from losing work you could. The exemptions are grouped by subject and each is tied to a subsection of Occupations Code section 1305.003. A person who owns and resides in a dwelling may do electrical work in it, under 1305.003(a)(6). Electrical connections for heating and air-conditioning work done by licensed air-conditioning and refrigeration contractors, including any disconnect exclusively for the equipment, are exempt under 1305.003(a)(11). Work on buildings, structures or equipment in agricultural use as defined by section 11.002 of the Texas Water Code is exempt under 1305.003(a)(18). Elevators, escalators and related equipment excluding power sources are exempt under 1305.003(a)(15). Residential appliance dealers and manufacturers repairing or servicing an existing appliance are exempt under 1305.003(a)(22). Construction and assembly of HUD-code manufactured housing or modular units, excluding service entrance conductors, is exempt under 1305.003(a)(20). TDLR lists further exemption groups covering colleges and universities, government, mining, petrochemical, oil and gas, railroads, telecommunications, utilities, low voltage wiring, irrigation, landscaping and well pumps. Two cautions come from TDLR itself. The page carries a note that municipal or regional regulations may override these exemptions, as outlined in section 1305.201. And TDLR states that public entities such as school districts are not required to hold a contractor's license because they do not contract with the public, yet their employees doing electrical work still work under the general supervision of a master electrician.
TDLR runs a free public license search and it is the page a homeowner, a general contractor or an insurer will land on. The search covers the Electricians program directly, and it lets anyone look you up by license number, by name, by business name, by city, by county, by zip code or by expiration date. The results page carries a data-last-updated timestamp, so a customer can see how current the record is. Two things follow for a contractor who wants the lookup to work in their favour. First, the business name on your Electrical Contractor license is the name a customer will search. TDLR requires the name on your certificate of liability insurance to match the business name on your application, and it requires the company owner of record to authorise any change to the name on the license, so a trading name that drifts away from the licensed name costs you verification. Second, keep your contact information current. TDLR sends the renewal reminder email or postcard about 60 days before expiry but states plainly that it is ultimately your responsibility to renew before the license expires, and it offers an online contact update. The same search is how you verify a supervising master when you need a signature on an Experience Verification Form and cannot reach the person. Complaints against a licensee go to TDLR through its complaints and enforcement pages, which is also the address you print on every invoice.
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These are common details other guides publish about Texas, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation runs the Electricians program statewide. TDLR states that anyone who performs, or offers to perform, non-exempt electrical work in Texas must be licensed and must perform that work through a licensed electrical contractor. Texas does not license electricians through the plumbing board.
Yes, if you sell electrical work. The individual license authorises you to do the work, and the Electrical Contractor license authorises the business to contract for it. TDLR requires an Electrical Contractor to employ a licensed Master Electrician, and the master may be the business owner.
8,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed Master Electrician. TDLR lets you sit the examination once you have submitted at least 7,000 hours, but the full 8,000 is required before the license issues.
You must have held a Journeyman Electrician license for at least two years and show 12,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed Master Electrician. TDLR states that Journeyman Industrial Electrician experience may not be used to qualify.
The Electrical Contractor application fee is $110 and the annual renewal fee is $110. A license expired 90 days or less renews at $165. Individual fees are lower: $45 for a master, $30 for a journeyman and $20 for a residential wireman, apprentice or maintenance electrician.
TDLR requires business liability insurance of at least $300,000 per occurrence combined for property damage and bodily injury, at least $600,000 aggregate, and at least $300,000 aggregate for products and completed operations. You file proof on the TDLR Electrical Contractor Certificate of Insurance Form.
TDLR's application and renewal pages for the Electrical Contractor license set out liability insurance and workers compensation requirements and do not state a state bond amount. Local permit offices may have their own requirements.
Texas electrician licenses are valid for one year and renew annually. TDLR requires 4 hours of continuing education before each renewal for masters, journeymen, residential wiremen, maintenance electricians, apprentices and the sign licenses. Contractors and Residential Appliance Installers are not required to complete continuing education.
The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation adopted the 2026 National Electrical Code at 16 TAC section 73.100 with an effective date of September 1, 2026, with a limited exception on ground-fault circuit interrupter requirements for certain outdoor outlets. Some TDLR pages still name the 2023 edition, so confirm with your permitting authority before you pull a permit.
Yes. Occupations Code section 1305.166 requires the business name and contractor license number permanently affixed in a conspicuous place on both sides of each vehicle, in characters at least two inches high in a contrasting color. TDLR rules also require the name and license number in advertising and on all proposals, invoices and written contracts.
For master electricians, TDLR lists Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa Class A, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio. For journeymen, TDLR lists Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming. TDLR states there are no reciprocal agreements for other license types.
A city can require registration but TDLR states it may not charge a fee for it, pointing to Occupations Code section 1305.201. Cities may still charge building permit fees. Houston, for example, requires you to register or renew your Texas master and contractor licenses with the city through its Electrical Inspections section at no stated registration fee.
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