Electrical work

You need an electrical licence or certificate before you can do any electrical wiring work. You must have the approved qualifications and experience before you can apply.

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Key information

In New South Wales (NSW), you need an electrical licence or certificate before you can do any electrical wiring work regardless of the cost of the work or whether the work is residential, commercial, or industrial.
There are several types of licences and certificates available depending on the work you need to do.
You must have the approved qualifications and experience before you can apply for a licence or certificate.
You can apply to have a licence or certificate issued for 1, 3 or 5 years.

When you will need an electrical licence or certificate

You must have an electrical licence or certificate before you can do any electrical wiring work in NSW, regardless of the cost of the work and regardless of whether the work is residential, commercial, or industrial.

It is a breach of the Home Building Act 1989 to carry out electrical wiring work without a licence or certificate. You can be fined $22,000 as an individual or $110,000 as a company for doing unlicensed electrical work.

Electrical wiring work

Electrical wiring work means the actual physical work of installing, repairing, altering, removing, or adding to an electrical installation or the supervising of that work.

Electrical installation includes fixed appliances, wires, fittings, meters, apparatus, or other electrical equipment used for (or related to) conveying, measuring, controlling, and using electricity in a particular place.

Electrical installation does not include:

any electrical equipment (other than a meter) used, or intended to be used, to generate, transmit or distribute electricity that is:
- owned or used by an electricity supply authority, or
- located at a place that is owned or occupied by such an authority
any electrical article connected to, and extending or situated beyond, any electrical outlet socket,
any electrical equipment in or around a mine,
any electrical equipment operating at not more than 50 volts alternating current or 120 volts ripple-free direct current,
any other electrical equipment, or class of electrical equipment, prescribed by the regulations.

Legislation and standards

For licensing purposes, electrical wiring work and electrical installation are defined in the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2017.

For the current Australian and New Zealand wiring rules, refer to Standards Australia .

Licence types you can apply for

Electrical work is specialist work.

There are several types of licences available in NSW depending on whether you want to:

contract to do the work,
supervise work,
do the work, or
do a combination of these roles.

The licence types that apply to electrical work are:

You can apply for these licence types for 1, 3 or 5 years, except provisional tradesperson certificates, which are issued for 3 years and cannot be renewed.

Find out more about licence types and how to apply.

You can also get started with applying for your licence or certificate at Service NSW.

Time frames for licensing and registration applications

Find out about the current application processing times for different licence and registration categories.

Qualifications and experience needed

There are multiple ways to get your electrical licence or certificate. Each pathway is listed and explained below.

You need to meet all the requirements of one pathway only.

To find organisations that deliver nationally recognised training, go to https://www.yourcareer.gov.au/learn-and-train/courses and search via the course code or name.

If you are currently an apprentice or trainee, you cannot apply for a licence or certificate. You must apply as soon as you finish your apprenticeship or traineeship to be able to keep doing electrical work.

If you hold a licence from interstate or New Zealand, and want to work in NSW, see Working interstate and mutual recognition.

Some licence holders can apply for recognition under the East Coast Electrician's scheme.

You can also see details for electrical licences and certificates on the Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) occupations list.

If you trained overseas, see Overseas trained applicants.

Pathway A: you hold a Complete Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician

You have completed Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician UEE30820 (or UEE30806 or UEE30807 or UEE30811)

and have all the following:

A certificate of proficiency as an electrician or an electrical mechanic from the Vocational Training Review Panel of NSW (the VTRP) or its predecessors (formerly the Vocational Training Tribunal (VTT)).
At least 12 months relevant electrical wiring work experience utilising knowledge and understanding of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018. This experience must be in the residential, commercial, and/or industrial areas required by our ‘Referee’s Statement Electrical Work’ form.

We may require the following to verify you are able to do or supervise electrical wiring work:

an assessment of your understanding of the current edition of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000-2018

evidence of your employment to confirm any employment periods.

We will contact you if we require you to complete this assessment or provide additional information.

Pathway B: you hold a current licence or certificate as an electrician

For example, if you hold a current endorsed contractor licence as an electrician, and you need to apply for a qualified supervisor certificate as an electrician, you can submit your current licence number instead of providing qualifications.

Pathway C: you held a licence or certificate as an electrician within 5 years

You held a licence or certificate as an electrician within 5 years of lodging an application. We may require you to do an assessment on the current edition of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000-2018 to verify you are able to do or supervise electrical wiring work.

We will contact you if we require you to complete this assessment or provide additional information.

Pathway D: you held a licence as an electrician more than 5 years ago

You held a licence as an electrician more than 5 years before lodging an application and you have completed the TAFE Digital assessment on the current edition of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018 (Re-Licensing for Electricians Course 800-27213-200TE-020), to verify that you are able to do and supervise electrical wiring work.

Pathway E: you have completed superseded qualifications within 5 years

You have completed one of the following superseded qualifications within 5 years of lodging your application, including having completed 6077AC Capstone Assessment:

Certificate III in Electrotechnology (UTE31199)
Certificate III in Electrical Mechanic, Fitter/Mechanic – Trade TAFE course 7793
Electrical Fitter/Mechanic, TAFE Trade course 1001
Electrical Mechanic, TAFE Trade course 1020
Electrical Trades TAFE course 1027
Electrical Trade TAFE course 1093
Electrical Trade TAFE course 6029.

And have all of the following:

A certificate of proficiency as an Electrician, Electrical Mechanic, Electrical Fitter/Mechanic, or Electrical Tradesperson from the Vocational Training Review Panel of NSW (the VTRP) or its predecessors (formerly the Vocational Training Tribunal (VTT)).
At least 12 months relevant electrical wiring work experience utilising knowledge and understanding of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018 in the residential, commercial, and/or industrial areas is required by our ‘Referee’s Statement Electrical Work’ form
Completed the TAFE Digital assessment on the current edition of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018 (Re-Licensing for Electricians Course 800-27213-200TE-020), to verify you can do or can supervise electrical wiring work.

We may require evidence of your employment to confirm any employment periods and to verify that you are able to do or supervise electrical wiring work.

Pathway F: You have completed a superseded qualification that does not meet the requirements of Pathway E

You have completed one of the following superseded qualifications that does not meet the requirements of Pathway E:

Certificate III in Electrotechnology (UTE31199)
Certificate III in Electrical Mechanic, Fitter/Mechanic – Trade TAFE course 7793
Electrical Fitter/Mechanic, TAFE Trade course 1001
Electrical Mechanic, TAFE Trade course 1020
Electrical Trades TAFE course 1027
Electrical Trade TAFE course 1093
Electrical Trade TAFE course 6029.

And have all of the following:

A certificate of Proficiency as an Electrician, Electrical Mechanic, Electrical Fitter/Mechanic, or Electrical Tradesperson from the Vocational Training Review Panel of NSW (the VTRP) or its predecessors (formerly the Vocational Training Tribunal (VTT)).
At least 12 months relevant electrical wiring work experience utilising knowledge and understanding of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018 in the residential, commercial and/or industrial areas required by our ‘Referee’s Statement Electrical Work’ form
Completed the TAFE Digital assessment on the current edition of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018 (Re-Licensing for Electricians Course 800-27213-200TE-020), to verify you are able to do or supervise electrical wiring work.

We may require evidence of your employment to confirm any employment periods and to verify that you are able to carry out electrical wiring work.

Pathway G: you have completed superseded Certificate III in Electrical Wiring before 3 July 2009

You have completed the superseded qualification Certificate III in Electrical Wiring TAFE course 9968, provided you were enrolled immediately before 3 July 2009 in the course or program relating to that qualification.

And have all of the following:

A Craft Certificate as an Electrician, Electrical Mechanic Electrical Fitter/Mechanic, or Electrical Tradesperson from the Vocational Training Review Panel of NSW (the VTRP) or its predecessors (formerly the Vocational Training Tribunal (VTT)).
At least 12 months relevant electrical wiring work experience utilising knowledge and understanding of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018 in the residential, commercial, and/or industrial areas required by our ‘Referee’s Statement Electrical Work’ form
Completed the TAFE Digital assessment on the current edition of the wiring rules AS/NZS 3000:2018 (Re-Licensing for Electricians Course 800-27213-200TE-020), to verify you can do or supervise electrical wiring work.

We may require evidence of your employment to confirm any employment periods and to verify that you are able to carry out electrical wiring work.

Assessing experience

Where we say “experience” is required, this means experience you have gained as an employee who has been paid in line with an award or enterprise agreement. You can get the experience during or after completing an apprenticeship.

You must get referees to verify your experience via the ‘Referee Statement for Electrical work’ form.

We may require evidence of your employment to confirm the time periods you were employed and to verify you are able to do or supervise the categories of work you are applying for.

Do not make false or misleading claims

It is an offence to make a false statement or leave out information when applying for a licence. If it is found that your licence has been issued on misleading grounds, you may be prosecuted, and your licence may be cancelled.

What would you like to do now?

Get in touch with Building Commission NSW

Need help with an application or want to know more about training and accreditation? Get in touch with Building Commission NSW.

Call:13 27 00Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm (excluding public holidays)

From overseas, call:+612 3814 0545