Oklahoma Construction Industries Board (CIB) — Electrical Committee administers electrician licensing in Oklahoma. Every figure below is verified against the board’s own official pages and dated. Who must personally hold a credential — the contractor, the business, or the individual worker — is set out under Requirements.
What it’s called
Oklahoma licenses individual electricians — the state electrician license is issued by the Oklahoma Construction Industries Board and held by the electrician personally (not only by the contractor, as in some states). “Electrician license,” “journeyman electrician license,” “master electrician license” and “electrician certification” are common informal names for the individual credential. The exact license tiers, fees, and any separate electrical-contractor license are set out in the license types and requirements below.
License types & fees
| Type | Experience | Exam | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical Apprentice (registration) | New entrants register before/while working under the direct supervision of a licensed Electrical Contractor; no prior experience required. Ratio: no more than three apprentices directly supervised per journeyman or contractor. Applicants must be 14 years or older. | None | $25.00 initial ($20.00 registration + $5.00 application); card expires one (1) year from issue. Subsequent applications $20.00 registration + $5.00 application, with the $5.00 application fee waived if renewed within 30 days of expiration. |
| Unlimited Electrical Journeyman | 8,000 verifiable hours of on-the-job experience in the electrical construction trade as a registered apprentice under the direct supervision of a licensed journeyman or licensed contractor; 4,000 of those hours must be in commercial/industrial work; up to 2,000 hours may be satisfied by formal electrical education (actual classroom hours verified by transcript). | Yes — journeyman exam administered by third-party vendor PSI | $75.00 initial ($50.00 license + $25.00 processing) |
| Residential Electrical Journeyman | 4,000 verifiable hours of on-the-job experience as a registered apprentice under direct supervision of a licensed journeyman or contractor; up to 1,000 hours may be satisfied by formal electrical education. Limited to wiring one- and two-family dwellings. | Yes — journeyman exam administered by PSI | $75.00 initial ($50.00 license + $25.00 processing) |
| Refinery Electrical Journeyman | Hold a verifiable license in the unlimited electrical classification issued by a jurisdiction outside Oklahoma that is current and in good standing. Limited to wiring inside refinery facilities. | Yes — administered by PSI | $75.00 initial ($50.00 license + $25.00 processing) |
| Unlimited Electrical Contractor | 12,000 verifiable hours of on-the-job experience in electrical construction work while employed by a licensed electrical contractor; proof of 4,000 hours (and 2 years) as a licensed Unlimited Electrical Journeyman; 6,000 hours must be in commercial/industrial work; up to 2,000 hours may be satisfied by formal electrical education. Must be an Owner, Partner, or Officer in the electrical firm. | Yes — contractor exam administered by PSI | $330.00 initial ($300.00 license + $30.00 processing) |
| Residential Electrical Contractor | 8,000 verifiable hours total in electrical construction work while employed by an electrical contractor, including 4,000 hours as a Residential or Unlimited Journeyman under an electrical contractor, plus 4,000 hours as a registered apprentice (or 3,000 apprentice hours + 1,000 hours of formal electrical education). Limited to wiring one- and two-family dwellings. Must be an Owner, Partner, or Officer in the firm. | Yes — contractor exam administered by PSI | $330.00 initial ($300.00 license + $30.00 processing) |
| Limited Electrical Contractor | Either (a) a degree in Electrical Engineering from an accredited college/university plus 8,000 hours of electrical experience in field construction, electrical estimating, or electrical project management in commercial/industrial work; OR (b) verification of 16,000 hours of experience in the electrical trade performing electrical work, estimating, or project management in commercial/industrial work. Prohibited from performing apprentice or journeyman work. Must be an Owner, Partner, or Officer in the firm. | Yes — contractor exam administered by PSI | $330.00 initial ($300.00 license + $30.00 processing) |
Who does NOT need this license — exemptions
Oklahoma’s Electrical License Act (59 O.S. secs. 1680-1699, the law behind every credential this page covers — apprentice registration, the journeyman classes, and the electrical contractor classes) states its exemptions in 59 O.S. sec. 1692. The Act does not apply to: minor repairs, ‘consisting of repairing or replacing outlets or minor working parts of electrical fixtures’ (sec. 1692(A)(1)); maintenance work for state and federal institutions (A)(2)); construction, installation, maintenance, repair and renovation by a public utility regulated by the Corporation Commission (A)(3)); public service corporations, telephone and telegraph companies, rural electric associations, and municipal utilities (A)(4)); telecommunications/information-systems work — construction, installation, maintenance, repair and renovation of telephone equipment or computer systems by a person or firm in the telecommunications or information systems industry, when the work is exclusively for communication of data, voice, or other signaling, except fire alarm systems, security systems, and environmental control systems that are not an integral part of a telecommunications system (A)(5)); and installation, maintenance, repair or replacement of water supply pumps, provided the work is performed from the output side of a fused disconnect or breaker box (A)(6)). Section 1692(B) adds three broad non-requirements, each subject to local ordinance: nothing in the Act requires employment of a licensed electrical contractor, journeyman, or apprentice ’except as required by local ordinances and resolutions’; a regular employee of a firm or corporation need not hold a license to do electrical work on the firm’s property (owned, leased, or rented) — the in-plant/maintenance-staff exemption — except as required by local ordinance; and an individual need not hold a license to do electrical work ‘on his own property or residence,’ again except as local ordinances require (sec. 1692(B)(1)-(3)) — so Oklahoma’s homeowner and in-house exemptions can be narrowed by city rules. The Act’s definitions reinforce two carve-outs: ’electrical construction work’ expressly excludes in-plant work performed by employees of the company owning the plant, work performed by telecommunications employees for telecommunications companies, and installation of factory-assembled appliances or machinery not part of premises wiring unless field wiring interconnections are required (59 O.S. sec. 1682(A)(10)); and low-voltage work is exempt outright — ‘Class 2 and Class 3 circuits shall be exempt from the requirements of electrical licensing of either an electrical contractor or a journeyman electrician,’ provided the work follows NFPA 70’s Class 2/Class 3 requirements (sec. 1682(B)). Oklahoma has no dollar-threshold exemption and no agriculture-specific exemption in the Act.
Fees
Apprentice registration: $25.00 ($20 registration + $5 application). Journeyman initial license: $75.00 ($50 license + $25 processing); journeyman renewal: $75.00 (total $100 if paid late). Contractor initial license: $330.00 ($300 license + $30 processing); contractor renewal: $200.00 (total $300 if paid late). Alarm Endorsement renewal: $25.00. Fees payable to the Construction Industries Board (CIB).
Exam
Journeyman and Contractor exams are required and are administered by the third-party testing vendor PSI (psiexams.com; 800-733-9267). After the CIB approves an application and the applicant is deemed eligible, the applicant contacts PSI to schedule the exam date, time, and location. Candidate Information Bulletin published by the CIB. No exam is required for apprentice registration.
Renewal & continuing education
Journeyman and Contractor licenses renew on a 3-year (36-month) cycle (12 hours of continuing education required every 36 months). Apprentice registration cards expire one (1) year from issue and require 3 hours of continuing education annually before re-registering. Journeyman/Contractor: 12 hours every 3 years (36 months) — 6 hours must be Code Update (codes/revisions adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission) and 6 hours may cover other approved electrical topics (circuit theory, wiring methods, grounding/bonding, transformers/motors, control systems, alternative energy/storage, NFPA 70E safety, the Electrical License Act, etc.). Apprentice: 3 hours of continuing education every year before re-registering (waived if the apprentice is a student apprentice or enrolled in an approved course).
How to apply
Applications are handled by Oklahoma Construction Industries Board (CIB) — Electrical Committee. Start at the official application page .