Rhode Island Electrician License Requirements

Rhode Island runs a dual-agency system that trips up more applicants than the exam itself. Your trade license comes from the Department of Labor and Training (DLT), not the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB) — and confusing the two is one of the fastest ways to submit paperwork to the wrong office and lose a month waiting for a returned application.

The Certificate System: B Before A

Rhode Island uses a lettered certificate hierarchy. Certificate B is the journeyperson license — it lets you perform electrical work under a master's supervision but does not authorize you to contract, bid, or pull permits. Certificate A is the electrical contractor (master) license, and it's the only credential that lets you operate independently.

You cannot skip ahead. Certificate A requires at least two consecutive years holding an active Certificate B, plus 12,000 total hours of documented trade experience. Every licensed master in the state started as a Certificate B holder.

Certificate B Requirements

To qualify for the journeyperson exam, you need:

• 8,000 hours of supervised on-the-job training completed as a registered apprentice under a DLT-approved sponsor
• 576 hours of related technical instruction (RTI) — 144 hours per year across four years — from an approved program like CCRI, Roger Williams University, or the IBEW Local 99 JATC
• A completed Certificate of Completion of Apprenticeship issued by the DLT Apprenticeship Office
• A signed company ratio sheet proving your sponsor maintained legal apprentice-to-journeyworker ratios on the jobsite

The exam application costs $75 (non-refundable), and the license itself is $72 once you pass.

Certificate A Requirements

The contractor exam opens up after you've held Certificate B for two years and logged 12,000 total OJT hours. The application fee is $75, and the Certificate A license costs $240.

If you plan to operate a business as a prime or general contractor on residential or commercial projects exceeding $500, you'll also need a Corporate Certificate (Certificate AC, $100) and a separate CRLB registration ($150/year) — but those come after you pass the exam.

The Exam Itself

Both exams are administered directly by the DLT at their Cranston headquarters (1511 Pontiac Avenue, Building 70). Rhode Island does not use PSI or any third-party testing vendor for electrical trade exams — this is a common source of confusion since the CRLB uses PSI for certain general-construction specialty exams.

The tests are closed-book. No NEC codebook, no notes, no reference materials. The state provides a scientific calculator and an Ohm's Law formula wheel, and that's it. Certificate B is 80 questions in four hours; Certificate A is 100 questions in five hours. Passing score for both is 70%.

Applications must arrive at the DLT at least 15 working days before the monthly exam date. Late submissions get bumped to the next month.

What Catches People Off Guard

The biggest stumbling block isn't the exam content — it's the paperwork. Hours worked before you were formally registered as an apprentice with the DLT are void. A digital database printout from your home state won't be accepted as license verification. And if you fill out the PDF application on an iPhone, the DLT warns that overlapping text corruption can make the form unreadable, resulting in automatic rejection.

Rhode Island's licensing path is straightforward once you understand the sequence, but the administrative details have real consequences for your timeline.

For a step-by-step breakdown of the entire process — from apprentice registration through business launch — the Rhode Island Electrician License Guide maps every checkpoint, fee, and form in order.

See more Rhode Island guides →