How to Renew a Delaware Electrical License

In Delaware, the Division of Professional Regulation makes one thing very clear: as an electrician, it’s illegal to work while your license is expired. That might seem obvious, but it makes it doubly important to make sure you’re staying on top of your renewal process. Miss the deadline by even a day, and you’ve got an expired license on your hands, making any future work you do against the law.

All told, you don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you can’t work. So let’s go through the Delaware electrical license renewal process step by step, including the continuing education requirement.

Step 1: Check your email in the spring of even-numbered years

All Delaware electrical licenses expire on June 30 of every even-numbered year. That means you’ve got a renewal due in 2022, along with 2024, 2026, and so on.

You should get a reminder email from the state. That email will outline how to use DELPROS, the online portal where you’ll renew your license.

If you’re not sure which email address the state has on file for you, you can log into DELPROS and head to the “Manage Profile” link. There, you’ll be able to confirm or update your email address.

Step 2: Take your CE

In order to renew, state law requires all electrical licensees to attest that they’ve completed the required continuing education (CE) hours. It might be tempting to just say you’ve done it, but the state randomly picks licenses to audit after each renewal period. If you get audited, you’ll have to show certificates of completion for each and every CE course you told the state you completed. You definitely don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you can’t show proof of that CE.

Now, let’s talk about the number of hours you need. For each full renewal cycle:

Master, master special, limited and limited special licensees need 10 CE hours (from a course like this one). From your second renewal on, 5 hours need to focus on the National Electrical Code (NEC).
Journeypersons, residential and apprentice licensees need 5 hours of CE (this class offers those).

You also need to take your CE from an education provider that the state has approved. Fortunately, some greenlit providers offer Delaware electrician CE that’s online and on-demand, making it a whole lot more convenient to knock out your CE hours.

Step 3: Check your insurance (only for some license types)

Delaware requires certain types of electrical licensees to maintain $300,000 of general liability insurance. This requirement applies to:

Master electricians
Master special electricians
Limited electricians
Limited special electricians

The same random audits get conducted for this requirement, so make sure you’ve still got a policy in place.

Step 4: Renew in DELPROS

Remember DELPROS? Once you have your CE done and you’ve checked that your insurance is still current (if applicable), you’ll head back to DELPROS to renew.

If you made a username and password before June 29, 2020, it won’t work anymore. You’ll need to register for a new account.

Once you’re all set up, follow the steps in DELPROS to submit your renewal. Have a credit card handy so you can pay your renewal fee while you’re at it. And don’t forget to get everything submitted by the June 30 deadline.