About the South Dakota Electrical Contractor license
South Dakota licenses electricians through the South Dakota Electrical Commission. The senior credential is officially titled the Electrical Contractor license — the trade commonly calls it "Master Electrician," and this guide uses that familiar term throughout, but when you fill out board paperwork or register for the exam, look for "Electrical Contractor," not "Master Electrician." It requires first holding a journeyman license, then logging two more years (4,000 hours) of documented journeyman experience, including a minimum of 2,000 hours of commercial work, before you are eligible to sit for the contractor's exam. A holder at this level can typically pull permits, supervise journeymen and apprentices, design installations, and serve as the qualifying individual for a licensed contracting business.
The exam is National Electrical Code (NEC) based, because South Dakota adopts the NEC as its electrical code. It is normally open book: you may bring a clean, bound copy of the adopted NEC edition. Tabs and highlighting are usually permitted; loose or handwritten notes usually are not — The ICC bulletin for this paper lists the 2023 NEC and Ugly's. Plan to tab and index your code book before test day, because the exam is as much a test of how fast you can locate a section as it is of what you have memorized.
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; 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 South Dakota licensing works
- Experience: four years (8,000 hours) as a licensed apprentice electrician working under a licensed contractor to become eligible for the journeyman exam, then two more years (4,000 hours) as a licensed journeyman — including a minimum of 2,000 hours of commercial work — to become eligible for the Electrical Contractor (master) exam. Hours must be logged under a licensed employer to count.
- Education: approved instruction hours or completion of an approved apprenticeship program count toward the journeyman experience that underlies the contractor credential.
- Application: submit the application, a $60 processing fee, and documented proof of experience (verified by your supervising employer) to the South Dakota Electrical Commission before you are approved to test.
- Exam vendor: exams are administered by the International Code Council (ICC) and delivered at PearsonVUE test centers — not PSI. The passing score is commonly cited around 70 percent, but the Commission's current exam catalog is the source of truth — confirm the current cut score, question count, and time limit there before you register.
- Renewal: licenses renew on a biennial cycle (expiring June 30 of even-numbered years) and require 16 hours of continuing education, including at least 8 code-related hours, each cycle.
Before you rely on any value in this guide, confirm the currently adopted NEC edition on the board and ICC/Pearson VUE bulletin. Ampacities, GFCI/AFCI scope, working-clearance distances, and receptacle-spacing rules all change between editions, and the exam is written to the edition your state has adopted — not necessarily the newest one published.
This is the opening of the full study guide. The complete guide continues into code navigation, worked calculations and solved exam questions.
