About the Georgia Electrical Contractor license
Georgia licenses electrical contractors through the State Board of Electrical Contractors, under the Georgia Secretary of State's Professional Licensing Boards Division. Unlike many states, Georgia does not issue a separate statewide journeyman or master electrician license — the state-level credential is the Electrical Contractor license itself, issued in two classifications: Class I (Restricted), limited to single-phase electrical installations not exceeding 200 amperes at the service drop or service lateral, and Class II (Unrestricted), which covers electrical contracting work of any type — residential, commercial, and industrial — with no amperage or voltage limit. A Class II holder can pull permits and serve as the qualifying agent for a licensed electrical contracting business anywhere in the state; a Class I holder is confined to the restricted scope above. (Some cities/counties issue their own local journeyman or master electrician cards for employees working under a licensed contractor — those are local credentials, not a state license tier, and don't substitute for the state Electrical Contractor license.)
The exam is open book, and the room is limited to the seven titles on the reference list effective January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. The code book on that list is the 2023 NEC or the NEC Handbook. Georgia's statewide minimum is the 2023 NEC with Georgia amendments effective January 1, 2026. Permanent tabs, highlighting, and underlining are what the handbook allows. Handwritten notes and pasted photocopies are not. The sitting card at the top of this guide names the other six books and the titles that stay outside.
Know these scope facts cold, because the exam asks them in plain-language form: the license is held by the individual, not the company; most installations require a permit and inspection before concealment (rough-in) and again at final; you must work within the classification you hold (Class I vs. Class II); and performing electrical work without the required license, or beyond your scope, is a violation that can cost you the license and carry civil penalties.
How Georgia licensing works
- Experience: Rule 121-3-.01. The baseline is four years of primary experience in electrical installation. Secondary experience or education is credited for up to one year, at 50 percent. A two-year academic diploma, or a two-year vocational-technical certificate, can count as two years on that path. A four-year degree is not given four years of credit. The worked count is in the experience section later in this guide. Do not add an 8,000-hour figure or a required supervisory year the rule does not print.
- Application: file in GOALS. The how-to guide lists a 110 dollar application fee, a background check from local law enforcement, three references (at least one from a licensed electrical contractor), and a secure and verifiable document. The board does not register companies. Approval to test is valid for one year.
- Exam vendor: PSI, one class at a time. Class II (unrestricted), which this course trains, presents 162 questions: 140 scored plus 22 unscored beta items, in 4 hours (240 minutes). Eight hours is Class I and Class II with a break, not one Class II paper and not a separate business exam. Law and administration are 30 of the 140 scored items inside the same paper. The handbook passing line is a scaled score of 70, not 70 percent of 162.
- Renewal: Rule 121-4-.05 requires 4 hours of continuing education per year in electrical contracting, 8 hours across a two-year renewal. It does not mandate a split between code hours and law hours. As of January 1, 2026 the hours are reported in CE Broker. The FAQ describes renewal in April through June of even-numbered years. Confirm the next window in GOALS.
Before you rely on any value in this guide, confirm the currently adopted NEC edition and amendments on the board and PSI bulletin. Ampacities, GFCI/AFCI scope, working-clearance distances, and receptacle-spacing rules all change between editions, and the exam is written to the edition Georgia has adopted — not necessarily the newest edition published.
This is the opening of the full study guide. The complete guide continues into code navigation, worked calculations and solved exam questions.
