Written by Kacie Goff
In Idaho, the penalties for letting your electrical license or apprenticeship card expire are less than ideal. If you let your master or journeyman license expire for more than a year, you’ll have to reapply and retake the exam. Things aren’t much better for apprentices, either. Any work experience hours you get won’t count while your card is inactive.
Long story short, you definitely want to get your renewal to-dos done before your license or card lapses. To help, we’ve outlined everything that’s required to renew a master or journeyman license or apprentice registration with the Idaho Division of Building Safety.
The nice thing is that you don’t need to fill out or send in some complicated renewal paperwork. Instead, renewing your journeyman or master electrical license or apprentice registration only requires you to do two things: complete the required education and pay the renewal fee. Let’s look at each.
State law requires all master and journeyman electricians to take 24 hours of CEUs (see the course here) during each three-year renewal cycle.
For any CEUs you take to count, they need to come from a state-approved education provider and focus on the required topics. Specifically, you need:
The state allows you to get up to four hours of CEUs during each renewal cycle by attending board meetings or negotiated rule meetings. You can find out when upcoming meetings of the Idaho Electrical Board are scheduled on their webpage.
If sitting through a board meeting or in some classroom isn’t your idea of a good time, you’ll be glad to know that there’s another route. The state has approved some education providers to offer on-demand, online Idaho electrical CEUs. That lets you knock out this requirement whenever you’ve got time using your computer, tablet, or phone.
Once you’ve got your CEUs completed, paying the renewal fee is the only outstanding to-do to get yourself renewed.
If you’re a master or journeyman, the renewal fee is $45. If you’re an apprentice, it’s $15.
You can pay the renewal fee by calling (800) 955-3044 with your credit or debit card number. Alternatively, you can send in the credit card authorization form. You can email it to customer.service@dbs.idaho.gov, fax it to (877) 810-2840, or mail it to:
Idaho Division of Building Safety
1090 E. Watertower St. Suite 150
Meridian, ID 83642
You can also pay in-person at any of the Division of Building Safety’s office locations. They have those addresses listed out in the footer at the bottom of their main webpage.