How to Become an Electrician in Idaho

Register Before You Touch a Wire

The Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses (DOPL) enforces a zero-tolerance rule on undocumented hours. Every hour of on-the-job training must be logged while you hold an active apprentice registration. Work performed during a lapsed registration cannot be counted toward your licensing-hour requirements.

Your first step is registering as an apprentice through DOPL's online portal. The fee is $15. Do this before your first day on the job, not after.

Two Pathways to Journeyman

Idaho offers two routes to a Journeyman Electrician license. Both end with the same NASCLA exam through PSI, but the entry requirements differ significantly.

The schooling pathway combines 8,000 hours of supervised on-the-job training with 576 hours of approved classroom instruction spread across four years (144 hours per year). Approved schools include College of Western Idaho, College of Southern Idaho, College of Eastern Idaho, Idaho State University, Lewis-Clark State College, and North Idaho College.

The experience-only pathway skips formal classroom training but requires 16,000 hours of verified work experience — double the OJT of the school pathway. Your hours must be spread across residential, commercial, and industrial work, with no single category exceeding 75% of the total. This route exists for experienced workers who learned the trade without a formal apprenticeship program.

The Exam-First Sequence

Idaho uses a sequence that trips up applicants from other states: you must pass the trade exam before submitting your license application. If you send your Journeyman application to DOPL before you have a passing PSI score, the state rejects it.

The correct order is: complete your hours and schooling (or 16,000 OJT hours), submit Work Verification Forms to DOPL, get exam authorization, register with PSI and pay the $75 exam fee, pass with 70% or higher, then submit your final license application with the $15 processing fee and $55 license fee.

What Counts as Experience (and What Does Not)

DOPL defines acceptable experience as hands-on electrical installation, wiring, and apparatus assembly work. Appliance repair, electric motor winding, and telecommunications cabling are explicitly excluded and will not count toward your hours. Experience gained as a Limited Electrical Installer or trainee is capped at 2,000 hours that can transfer toward the Journeyman requirement.

Supervision During Your Apprenticeship

All apprentice work must be performed under the constant, on-the-job supervision of a licensed Master, Journeyman, or Residential Electrician who is physically on site. Idaho enforces strict ratios: one licensed electrician per six registered apprentices on residential sites, and one per two on commercial or industrial jobs. These ratios relax only for advanced apprentices who have logged 6,000 or more OJT hours and are enrolled in or have completed their schooling.

After Journeyman: Master and Contractor

Once you hold an active Idaho Journeyman license for four consecutive years, you can sit for the Master Electrician exam (75% passing score, $75 PSI exam fee; the post-exam application and license fees total $80). Masters can design systems, supervise large crews, and qualify a contracting business.

To start an electrical contracting company, you need a designated supervising electrician (a Master, or a Journeyman with 2,000+ hours of journeyman-level experience), a business entity registered with the Secretary of State, $300,000 in general liability insurance, workers' comp coverage, and a passing score on the Contractor Business and Law exam.

The Idaho Electrician License Guide walks through each career stage with tracking worksheets and application checklists, so nothing slips through the cracks between registration and your final license.

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