Checked against primary sources 2026-09-07

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Wisconsin Electrician License: Grades, Hours, Fees

Wisconsin puts the credential on the person, not only on the business, and it runs a ladder of individual credentials with a business license on top of them. This page lays the whole ladder out in the order you meet it, with the rule number behind every requirement.

Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed

What the state licenses

Wisconsin licenses individual electricians by name and by grade, and it licenses the contracting business separately. Thirteen electrician and electrical credential types appear in the department's own license count file.

The duty comes from Wis. Stat. 101.862. Subsection (2) reads: "No person may install, repair, or maintain electrical wiring unless the person is licensed as an electrician by the department or unless the person is enrolled as a registered electrician by the department."

Subsection (1) puts a second duty on the business: "No person may engage in the business of installing, repairing, or maintaining electrical wiring unless the person is licensed as an electrical contractor by the department." Subsection (3) adds that anyone who is not a master electrician works with a master electrician "at all times responsible for the person's work."

Who issues it

The Department of Safety and Professional Services, DSPS, issues every electrician credential in the state. There is no Wisconsin electrical examining board that issues licenses.

What exists beside DSPS is the SPS 316 Electrical Code Advisory Committee, created under Wis. Stat. 227.13 and Wis. Stat. 440.042(1) to "advise the Department on matters relating to Wis. Admin. Code ch. SPS 316." The committee's page says it has "advisory powers only."

Applications, renewals and reinstatements all run through the DSPS online system, LicensE. Every application form we read ends the fee question the same way: "Fees will be calculated in LicensE."

The ladder, from nothing to your own business

SPS 305.40 lists nine ways a person may lawfully touch electrical wiring in Wisconsin: licensed master electrician, licensed residential master electrician, registered master electrician, licensed journeyman electrician, licensed industrial journeyman electrician, licensed residential journeyman electrician, enrolled registered electrician, registered electrical apprentice, and registered industrial or residential electrical apprentice.

Read in the order a career runs, that is:

• Registered Electrician, code BE, the entry enrollment with no hours needed to start and no exam.
• Electrical Apprentice, code EA, which needs an apprentice contract rather than an exam.
• Residential Journeyman (RJE) and Industrial Journeyman (IJE), two scoped licenses with their own exams.
• Journeyman Electrician, code JE, the general license with the widest scope under a master.
• Residential Master (RME) and Master Electrician (ME), the two grades that carry responsibility for other people's work.
• Electrical Contractor, code EC, the business credential with no exam of its own.

The license types page gives the scope sentence DSPS prints for each one.

The supervision rule people miss

SPS 305.40 also caps how many beginners can be on a job. Quoted: "The total number of registered beginning electricians at an installation site may not exceed twice the total number of licensed or registered master electricians and journeyman electricians at the installation site plus two."

That is a staffing rule, not a training rule, and it decides how many registered electricians a crew can carry. It is worth knowing before you take a job that promises to get you hours.

The hours each licensed grade asks for

Every licensed grade has its own rule section, and the numbers are not interchangeable.

• Journeyman, SPS 305.44(3): an apprenticeship "that has a duration of at least 3 years," or "at least 8,000 hours of experience over" a period of not less than 48 months.
• Residential journeyman, SPS 305.447: "at least 1,000 hours per year of experience for at least 3 years in residential electrical wiring work."
• Industrial journeyman, SPS 305.443: "at least 1,000 hours per year of experience for at least 5 years in industrial electrical wiring work."
• Residential master, SPS 305.435: "at least 1,000 hours per year of experience for at least 5 years in electrical wiring work."
• Master, SPS 305.43(2): "at least 1,000 hours per year of experience for at least 7 years in electrical construction work."

School counts, up to a ceiling. Each full-time semester in an electrical related program at an accredited college, university, technical or vocational school is worth 500 hours, capped at 2,000 hours and two years on the journeyman grades and at 3,000 hours and three years on the master grades. The hours page works through the arithmetic.

The exam, in one paragraph

Five electrician exams carry an examination requirement: journeyman, residential journeyman, industrial journeyman, master and residential master. All five are open book with a passing score of 70 percent, and the Pearson VUE fee schedule gives each one four hours of seat time.

The code edition on the paper is changing. DSPS exam pages still name the 2017 National Electrical Code today, and DSPS says it "expects exam updates to be completed by October 1." Read which edition the exam uses before you buy a code book.

What it costs

Table 305.02 in SPS 305 sets the state fees. Application is $35 for every licensed electrician grade and $15 for the registered electrician enrollment and the apprentice registration.

The state examination fee is $30. The license fee on issue is $100 for journeyman, industrial journeyman and residential journeyman, $200 for master, residential master and electrical contractor, $150 for the registered master registration, $20 for the registered electrician enrollment and $15 for the apprentice.

The Pearson VUE fee schedule prints a separate figure of $95.00 for every electrician exam. Whether that $95 is the whole cost or sits on top of the $30 is a live conflict between two DSPS documents, and the exam cost page prints both sides.

Keeping it once you have it

Journeyman, industrial journeyman, residential journeyman, master, residential master and the contractor license all run four year terms expiring June 30. The registered electrician enrollment and the apprentice registration run one year from the date of issuance.

Continuing education is 24 hours for journeyman, master and registered electrician, and 18 hours for industrial journeyman, residential journeyman and residential master. No sentence in the rule requires any of those hours to be a code update course, whatever a course seller tells you. The continuing education page quotes the rule.

Questions people ask

Do I need a license to do electrical work in Wisconsin?

Yes, in most cases. Wis. Stat. 101.862(2) says no person may install, repair or maintain electrical wiring unless licensed as an electrician or enrolled as a registered electrician. Subsection (4) carries exemptions, including property owners working on their own residences and replacement switches and outlets rated at 20 amperes or less.

What is the lowest Wisconsin electrician credential?

The registered electrician enrollment, code BE. SPS 305.45 asks for an application, an application fee and a registration fee, and sets no experience or schooling floor. There is no examination for it.

How long does it take to become a journeyman electrician in Wisconsin?

SPS 305.44(3) accepts an apprenticeship of at least three years, or 8,000 hours of experience over a period of not less than 48 months. Form 3106 adds a third route of at least 1,000 hours per year for at least five years.

Does Wisconsin require an apprenticeship?

No. An apprenticeship is one of the routes on form 3106, alongside documented experience. The Wisconsin Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards registers the programs, and DSPS accepts a completion certificate from it.

How much does a Wisconsin electrician license cost?

Table 305.02 sets a $35 application fee and a $30 examination fee on the licensed grades, then $100 for a journeyman license and $200 for a master license. Pearson VUE publishes a separate $95.00 figure for the exam itself.

Does Wisconsin license the electrician or the company?

Both. The individual holds the electrician credential and the business holds an electrical contractor license under Wis. Stat. 101.862(1). The contractor license has no examination attached to it.

Where do I apply?

In LicensE, the DSPS online system at license.wi.gov. Every application form we read gives no dollar figures at all and says only that fees will be calculated in LicensE.

What this page cites

• Wis. Stat. 101.862 The licensing duty on the individual, the business and the master electrician responsible for other people's work. source
• SPS 305.40, Electricians The nine lawful roles and the ratio limiting registered beginning electricians on a site. source
• SPS 305.02 and Table 305.02 The application, examination and license fees for every electrician category. source
• DSPS Journeyman Electrician page The department's own statement of the licensing duty and its link into LicensE. source
• DSPS license counts, as of 06/01/2026 The file that lists thirteen electrician and electrical credential types with their active and inactive counts. source
• Form 3106, Journeyman Electrician The three experience routes and the school credit rule as the application form prints them. source