Renewing a Montana Electrical License

Whether you’re a residential, journeyman, or master electrician, you need to periodically work with the Montana State Electrical Board to renew your license. If you don’t, your license could get put on administrative suspension. At that point, you’ll need to deal with extra paperwork and pretty hefty fees (think: $200) to get your license reinstated.

Long story short, you don’t want to miss your renewal deadline. We can help. Here are all of the to-dos master, journeyman, and residential electricians need to knock out to renew their licenses in Montana.

The continuing education all Montana electricians need

Probably the biggest piece of the renewal process — at least from a time-investment perspective — is continuing education (CE). The Board requires licensed electricians to complete a set number of hours during each two-year renewal cycle.

Specifically, they say you need eight hours per year, which means you need 16 total hours per renewal cycle. But that’s not all. Each year, four of your hours need to focus on updates to the National Electrical Code (NEC). That means that by the time you’re submitting your renewal, you need 16 total hours with eight on the NEC (and this package helps you fulfill that requirement).

The upside is that you don’t need to spend the equivalent of two full workdays at a seminar or class. You can get your Montana electrical CE online and on-demand. You can even chip away at your hours from your phone or tablet if you choose this option.

If you’re not sure how many CE hours you have so far in this renewal cycle, you can log in to check.

Whenever you finish your CE, hang onto the certificate of completion that you get. The Board can pull your license for audit at any time. If you get audited, you’ll need to show proof that you’ve finished the required CE hours.

The deadline

All Montana electrical licenses expire on July 15 of every even-numbered year. That means you’re due for renewal in 2022, 2024, 2026, and so on.

The renewal window opens 60 days before the deadline, and you might want to take advantage of that. A lot of people wait until the 15th to try to log in and send in their renewal. The issue is that the Board staff is usually busy fielding calls that day and leaves the office at 5:00 p.m. If you run into any problems, there’s a chance no one will be available to help you.

Renewing your license online

Whenever you decide to renew your license within the 60-day window, the process starts with logging into your online account. If you need any help creating an account or you forgot your password, refer to this troubleshooting guide.

Once you’re logged in, click the blue “Renew License” button and follow all of the steps. Have a payment method handy because at the end of the process, you’ll need to input payment information for the renewal fee. Per the state’s Administrative Rules, the renewal fee is $200 for all Montana journeyman, master, and residential electricians.

Now you know. Mark your calendar to make sure you get your CE and submit your renewal before the deadline.