How to Renew a Colorado Electrical License

Like all other states that license their electricians, Colorado lays out a specific renewal process. If you don’t follow it and your license expires for too long, you could be back to square one — meaning you’d have to take the exam all over again. Long story short, it’s easier to skip that headache and keep your license active, especially when you know how to renew.

With that in mind, let’s walk through the steps required to get a Colorado electrical license renewed with the Department of Regulatory Industries (DORA).

Step 1: Mark your calendar

In Colorado, electrical licenses stay good for three years. The next renewal deadline is September 30, 2023. That’s true if you have a residential wireman, journeyman, or master electrical license.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you should mark your calendar for September 30, though. The renewal window opens six weeks before that. To make sure you have enough time to complete the steps in this process before your current license expires, it makes more sense to put a reminder on your calendar for mid-August 2023.

Then, once you finish the 2023 renewal process, put another reminder down for mid-August 2026. Get in this habit and you’ll never be unpleasantly surprised by your license’s expiration date.

Step 2: Take your continuing education

DORA requires all residential wireman, master, and journeyman electricians to take 24 hours of continuing education (CE) as a condition for renewal. These can’t be random hours, either. They need to focus on what the state calls “core competencies,” which means they need to be on the following topics:

National Electrical Code (NEC) changes
Grounding and bonding
Wiring methods
Theory and calculations
Electrical industry safety

But wait, there’s more when it comes to what’s required. Of your 24 hours, at least four need to focus on NEC changes. And no more than four hours can be about safety.

Beyond that, you can’t take these CE hours just anywhere, either. DORA requires you to take them from an education provider that they’ve vetted and approved.

Now, here’s the upside. DORA knows that electrical professionals are busy so they’ve greenlit certain CE providers to offer their courses online and on-demand. This lets you take your hours however it’s most convenient for you, even if that’s from your phone on your lunch break. And when you choose a 24-hour CE package (like the one offered here) from a DORA-approved provider, you can rest easy knowing that you’re hitting all of the requirements.

Step 3: File your certificates of completion somewhere safe

After each renewal cycle, DORA conducts an audit to make sure that electrical licensees are actually taking their CE. They require you to keep the certificate of completion you get for any CE course for seven years.

Whether you file proof of your CE digitally or as a hard copy, make sure it’s somewhere safe that you can easily access in the event that you get audited.

Step 4: Submit your application

Now, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. To get this to-do off your desk, the last step is to use the state’s online licensing portal. If you don’t have an account, you can register here.

Once you’re logged in, assuming it’s 4-6 weeks from your renewal deadline, you’ll see a link to "Complete License Renewal." Follow those steps to get your license renewed.