Kentucky Master Electrician License: Requirements, Experience, and How to Apply
What Kentucky's DHBC requires for a master electrician license: 16,000 hours of verifiable experience, the $100 ICC exam, the $200 license fee, the separate contractor exam, renewal and reciprocity.
Contents
Kentucky Master 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 master exam is ICC's Kentucky Standard Master Electrician exam. Here is what the master license takes.
Experience
You need 16,000 hours of verifiable experience. Approved training, teaching and an associate degree in electrical technology can count toward part of it; check the amounts with DHBC before you apply.
If you do not have the hours yet, the electrician license takes 8,000. See Kentucky Journeyman Electrician requirements.
The exam
ICC gives the exam (701_KY) at Pearson VUE test centers for $100:
- 100 multiple-choice questions in 5 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.
Master or contractor?
The master license is not the contractor license. Electrical contractors pass a separate 30-question business and law exam; masters and journeymen do not.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| ICC exam | $100 |
| Master license | $200 (covers two years, prorated to your birth month) |
| Electrical contractor license | $400 |
Which code?
Kentucky has enforced the 2023 NEC since January 1, 2025, moving up from the 2017 NEC, and the exam tests it. For one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses, 210.52(C), 230.67 and 314.27(C) were delayed to July 15, 2026.
Renewal
Licenses renew every two years by the end of your birth month, for the same $200, 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, and with Ohio, where an Ohio electrical contractor license earns a Kentucky contractor and master license.
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 Master Electrician exam prep.
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