New Hampshire · electrician licensing · verified July 2026
New Hampshire electrician license requirements
The short answer
As of July 2026, New Hampshire requires a state license from the Electricians' Board (Office of Professional Licensure and Certification) for any electrical work at 30 volts or higher. Apprentices must register with the OPLC (12-month ID card, 150 hours schooling per year); a journeyman license requires 8,000 hours as an apprentice plus 600 hours of electrical schooling and a Prov-administered exam; a master license requires passing the journeyman exam plus 2,000 additional field hours as a journeyman before the master exam. Licenses renew every 2 years, with 15 hours of NEC code-update instruction required each code cycle.
Do you need a license to work as an electrician in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire licenses electricians statewide, so one credential is valid across the whole state.
License mandatory for work with 30 volts or higher. NH does not publish a reciprocal-state list: out-of-state applicants use licensure by endorsement under rule Plc 313.24, requiring one year of professional experience in the licensure category sought. Exam fees are paid to the vendor (Prov) and are not listed on the OPLC fee page.
What licenses does New Hampshire issue?
The New Hampshire Electricians' Board, Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) issues the credentials below for this trade. Boards often list further classes for specialties and business licenses; these are the ones this page covers.
Hours are what each class asks for on its own terms. Where a senior class shows fewer than a journeyman, the board is counting time served after the earlier license rather than from the start; the prerequisite column says which.
| License | On-the-job hours | Classroom hours | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprentice Electrician (registration/ID card) | not published | 150 | No |
| Journeyman Electrician | 8,000 | 600 | Yes |
| Master Electrician | 2,000 | not published | Yes |
| High/Medium Voltage Electrician (and Trainee) | not published | not published | No |
Source: New Hampshire Electricians' Board, Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) (gc.nh.gov). Verified July 2026.
Apprentice Electrician (registration/ID card): Employment under a NH master electrician; high school diploma or equivalent (or approved CTE program enrollment)
Journeyman Electrician: 8,000 hours as a registered apprentice under a licensed journeyman/master (max 2,000 hours school credit)
Master Electrician: Passed journeyman exam + 2,000 hours field experience as a journeyman
How many hours do you need in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job experience for a Journeyman Electrician license, plus 600 classroom hours. At a 40-hour week the on-the-job portion is roughly 4 years of full-time work.
What exam does New Hampshire require?
NH Journeyman Electrician examination (includes NEC provisions as determined by the board, RSA 319-C:8). Administered by Prov (board's exam vendor - Prov Candidate Bulletin on board site).
NH Master Electrician examination. Administered by Prov.
How much does a New Hampshire electrician license cost?
Getting a Journeyman Electrician license in New Hampshire costs $110 in board fees, before any training. That is the application fee charged once, with renewal charged separately below. No board publishes this total, so it is added up here from the schedule it does publish. An exam is required and its fee is not in that figure, because no amount for it appears in the board material this page is built from. Check the board's current fee schedule before budgeting.
- Application fee$110
- Renewal fee (recurring)$110
Source: fee schedule (oplc.nh.gov). Verified July 2026.
How often do you renew, and what continuing education is required?
Renewal period: 2 years from date of issuance (RSA 310:8); apprentice ID cards are valid 12 months
Continuing education: Journeyman and Master licensees: 15 hours of instruction on changes to the latest edition of NFPA 70 (NEC) every code cycle, of which at least 1 hour must cover changes to RSA 319-C, the administrative rules, and installation concerns; certificates submitted via CE Broker. Apprentices: 150 hours of schooling per 12-month card; an apprentice who has finished schooling but not attained journeyman licensure by the fifth card renewal must complete 30 hours of classroom instruction per year.
How does the apprenticeship route work?
Apprenticeship is the statutory route: register with OPLC as an apprentice (registration with US DOL/state apprenticeship agency is voluntary but recommended), accumulate the 8,000 required hours under a licensed journeyman/master while completing 150 hours per year of approved schooling toward the 600-hour requirement; up to 2,000 hours of practical (school-based) experience from approved programs (NH community colleges, IBEW/NECA National Joint Apprenticeship Schools, approved vocational schools) can be credited toward the 8,000 hours.
Which states does New Hampshire have license reciprocity with?
New Hampshire appears in 10 published reciprocal licensing agreements for this trade, covering Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Boards write these as agreements between two states rather than as a one-way list, and some publish the list while their counterpart does not, so this counts every agreement naming New Hampshire from either side. Recognition is never automatic: the board you apply to decides, and most require the original license to have been earned by examination and to be in good standing.
How does New Hampshire compare to neighboring states?
Requirements stop at the state line, which matters if you live near one or expect to move. Here is what the neighboring states ask of the same trade.
| State | Journeyman hours | Licensing model |
|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Maine | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Massachusetts | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Vermont | not published | Statewide |
Source: state licensing boards. Verified July 2026.
How does New Hampshire compare nationally?
24 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 8,000 to 10,000 hours. New Hampshire's 8,000 hours is what 23 of them ask, making it the standard rather than an outlier; no state asks less and 1 asks more. The full comparison is on the hours by state table.
Sources and verification
Every fact on this page traces to one of these
- OPLC - Electricians' Board (scope, CE, Prov bulletin, endorsement)
- OPLC - Electricians' License Fees
- OPLC - Electricians' Apprenticeship Requirements
- RSA 319-C:7 Licensing Requirements
- RSA 310:8 License Renewals (2-year validity)
- NH Admin Rules Chapter Elec 300 (Elec 304.01 qualifications)
- OPLC - Electricians' Applications
Last verified July 2026. Found an error? Report it and it will be corrected and logged on the corrections page.
Other states with published requirements for this trade: New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah.
Price the whole path with the license cost estimator, or weigh earning against paying for school with the apprenticeship comparison. Back to electricians overview.
Licensing requirements change between our verification sweeps. This page is informational only, so confirm current requirements with New Hampshire Electricians' Board, Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) before making decisions. Not legal advice.