Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (Department of Commerce and Insurance / Regulatory Boards Division) administers electrician licensing in Tennessee. 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
Tennessee licenses individual electricians — the state electrician license is issued by the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors 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 | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limited Licensed Electrician (LLE) | LLE trade exam (required). The Board's trade exam provider is Prov (provexam.com); new exams are scheduled through Prov. PSI, the previous provider, continues to administer only exams already scheduled with it, through September 2026. | $50 initial application | Individual electrician license for electrical work of less than $25,000 per project, required only when working in a municipality that uses the state Division of Fire Prevention for permits or inspections. Applicants must first check whether their local government accepts the LLE license or imposes its own local licensing requirement. | |
| Contractor license with Electrical (CE) classification | Tennessee Business & Law exam + Electrical (CE) trade exam. Open-book; exams typically valid two (2) years. Administered by Prov (previously PSI). Trade exam waiver available via reciprocity for actively-licensed electrical contractors from AL, LA, MS, NC, OH, SC, WV; NASCLA National Commercial and Electrical exams also accepted (per the Board's Trade Exam Waiver Agreement, Rev. 06/2026). Waiver does NOT apply to the LLE program. | $250 initial / reinstatement / ownership change | Required for electrical projects of $25,000 or more (contractor licensure threshold). Issued to the business entity through a Qualifying Agent. Requires the Tennessee Business & Law exam plus the Electrical (CE) trade exam, a financial statement (or the new Contractors' Surety Bond option as of July 1, 2026), general liability insurance, and workers' compensation. |
Who does NOT need this license — exemptions
Tennessee’s two electrical credentials carry different exemption lines. Contractor license with CE (Electrical) classification: the license attaches only at a dollar threshold — ‘A Contractor’s license is required prior to contracting (bidding or negotiating a price) whenever the total cost of the project is $25,000 or more’ (Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors; the contractor definition sits in Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 62-6-102 — Tennessee statute text is available only through the state’s LexisNexis service, so the citation is given without a link). Electrical projects under $25,000 (materials and labor) therefore need no CE contractor license; the board warns that projects cannot be split to stay under the threshold. Owner exemption: by rule, ‘Any person, business or church that owns property and constructs single residences or buildings for their individual use shall not need a contractor’s license. Individual use shall mean use by persons other than the general public’ (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0680-1-.22, adopted under authority of Tenn. Code Ann. secs. 62-6-103 and 62-6-108). The State Fire Marshal’s Office implements this on the permit side: a residential property owner may purchase an electrical permit for installations on single residences, farm buildings, or other buildings for individual use ‘and not for resale, lease, rent or other similar purpose,’ without submitting any electrical license, and the board states plainly that ‘a homeowner may obtain a permit to perform their own work on a residential dwelling, only. Commercial work requires a license.’ Limited Licensed Electrician (LLE): the LLE is itself a below-threshold credential — it ‘is only required by electricians performing work in a municipality utilizing the Division of Fire Prevention for permits or inspections and covers work less than $25,000 per project’ (requirements defined in Tenn. Code Ann. secs. 62-6-102(d) and 68-102-150, LexisNexis-only). Two groups are outside the LLE requirement: holders of a CE contractor license — ‘Contractors with a CE are exempt from the Limited Licensed Electrician (LLE) license, but still required to obtain permits, inspections and any applicable local licenses’ — and electricians working in ’exempt jurisdictions’ that run their own electrical codes-enforcement and licensing programs (journeyman/master systems) and do not accept the LLE, including Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Memphis; in those places local licensing rules, not the state LLE, govern. The LLE is accepted only in the roughly 65 counties with state electrical permit issuing agents, where the State Fire Marshal’s Office performs inspections. Tennessee’s exemption structure contains no utility, railroad, agriculture, or in-plant maintenance carve-out at the state level: the licensing trigger is contracting at $25,000+, so employees doing in-house work for their employer are simply outside the ‘contracting’ definition rather than named in an exemption list, and farm buildings appear only inside the owner individual-use permit rule.
Fees
lle_initial: $50; lle_renewal: $50; lle_reinstatement: $80; lle_late_penalty: $10/month up to 3 months; lle_duplicate: $5; contractor_initial_reinstatement_ownership_change: $250; contractor_renewal: $200; contractor_late_penalty: $20/month up to 12 months; contractor_duplicate: $25; note: All fees non-refundable.
Exam
LLE: LLE trade exam (individual). Contractor/Electrical (CE): Tennessee Business & Law exam + Electrical (CE) trade exam, open-book, typically valid 2 years. The Board’s exam provider is Prov (provexam.com); new exams are scheduled through Prov. PSI, the previous provider, continues to administer only exams already scheduled with it, through September 2026.
Renewal & continuing education
Renewal option appears in CORE within 90 days of expiration; submit at least 30 days before expiration. LLE: 3-month grace period ($10/month late fee); expired 3+ months requires new application. Contractor: bi-annual (2-year) renewal, 12-month grace period ($20/month late fee). LLE: no continuing education requirement stated on the Board’s renewal page. Contractor: only BC-A and BC-A/r (residential building) contractors must complete 8 hours of continuing education per bi-annual renewal; no CE requirement stated for the Electrical (CE) classification.
How to apply
Applications are handled by Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (Department of Commerce and Insurance / Regulatory Boards Division). Start at the official application page .