Kentucky Journeyman Electrician License: Requirements, Experience, and How to Apply
What Kentucky's DHBC requires for the electrician (journeyman) license: 8,000 hours of experience, the training that counts for 4,000 of them, the provisional license, the $100 ICC exam, fees, renewal and reciprocity.
Contents
Kentucky Journeyman Electrician License: Requirements and How to Apply
Kentucky licenses electricians through the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (DHBC), Electrical licensing. There are three statewide licenses: electrical contractor, master electrician and electrician. The electrician license is the journeyman level, and its exam is ICC's Kentucky Standard Journeyman Electrician exam. Kentucky has no statewide residential electrician license, though some cities and counties run authorized local programs.
Experience
Under KRS 227A.060, you need 8,000 hours of verifiable experience. Any one of the following counts for 4,000 of those hours:
- an approved training course: an approved apprenticeship of at least 288 classroom hours,
- two years of a four-year approved training program,
- an associate degree or diploma in electrical technology, or
- two years teaching electrical technology.
Military experience can also count.
The provisional license
If you have six years of full-time experience, you can get a one-year provisional electrician license. It cannot be renewed, and you must pass the exam within that year.
The exam
ICC gives the exam (703_KY) at Pearson VUE test centers for $100:
- 80 multiple-choice questions in 4 hours, four options and one correct answer each,
- open book with the 2023 NEC (NFPA 70) and Ugly's Electrical Reference (any edition),
- 70% to pass. A passing score is valid for three years, and after a failed attempt you wait 10 days to retest.
Kentucky also accepts passing exams from PROV and NASCLA. What is on the exam breaks down the ICC outline.
Fees
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| ICC exam | $100 |
| Electrician license | $100 (covers two years, prorated to your birth month) |
Renewal
Licenses renew every two years by the end of your birth month, for the same $100, with a 60-day grace period. Kentucky requires 6 hours of continuing education a year on safety, electrical codes or trade subject matter, with no more than 2 hours of safety.
Licensed in another state?
Kentucky has reciprocity with West Virginia and Virginia for master and journeyman licenses. With Ohio, the agreement covers contractors: an Ohio electrical contractor license earns a Kentucky contractor and master license.
Moving up
The master license takes 16,000 hours of verifiable experience. See Kentucky Master Electrician requirements.
Getting ready
Kentucky and ICC do not publish exam pass rates. Try our free 10-question practice test on the 2023 NEC, or see the full Kentucky Journeyman Electrician exam prep.
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