Oklahoma Residential Electrical Contractor License: Requirements, Fees, and Both Exams

Oklahoma Residential Electrical Contractor License: Requirements and Both Exams

Oklahoma's Construction Industries Board (CIB) issues three electrical contractor licenses: Unlimited, Limited and Residential. The residential license is the shortest route to running your own electrical business in Oklahoma, but it limits you to homes and duplexes. CIB decides who is eligible, and PSI gives both exams.

What the license covers

CIB's rule (OAC 158:40-7-2) limits residential electrical licenses to one- and two-family dwellings: a single structure with no more than two dwelling units and at least 5 feet of separation from any other dwelling or structure, regardless of fire walls. A single house or a duplex qualifies. Apartments, motels and multi-family townhomes do not. Those need an unlimited license.

PSI's bulletin describes the exam as covering "one-, two-, or three-family residences," but the CIB rule is the one that governs your work, and it stops at two units.

Who can apply

To sit the residential contractor exam you must:

1. Be at least 18.
2. Have passed the residential or unlimited journeyman exam.
3. Show two years as a licensed electrical journeyman, with at least 4,000 hours as a residential or unlimited journeyman employed and supervised by an unlimited or residential electrical contractor.

The 4,000 hours are journeyman hours, not apprentice hours. If you are still working toward your journeyman license, start with Oklahoma Residential Journeyman Electrician requirements.

Two exams, both required

Every Oklahoma electrical contractor license takes two passed portions (OAC 158:40-9-2):

	Residential trade exam	Electrical Business and Law
Questions	80 scored	50 scored
Time	210 minutes (3½ hours)	120 minutes (2 hours)
Passing score	70% (56 of 80)	70% (35 of 50)
Book policy	Open book	Open book
References	2023 NEC as adopted by the OUBCC, 29 CFR 1926, Ugly's (any edition)	NASCLA Contractor's Guide (Basic 14th), Oklahoma rules and statutes
PSI fee	$92	$92

The trade exam has the same 12 areas and question counts as the Residential Journeyman exam. What is on the exam breaks them down. Business and Law is a separate exam that every contractor applicant takes; see Oklahoma Electrical Business and Law requirements.

You have three years. If you pass one portion, you only retake the other, as long as you pass it within three years of the date CIB approved you to test. After that you retake both.

Applying

1. Submit the contractor application to CIB.
2. Once CIB approves it, you get an Ok Con ID number for your PSI account.
3. Schedule and pay for each portion with PSI. Your exam eligibility does not expire, but the three-year window for passing both portions does apply.

Fees

Fee	Amount
CIB contractor application	$30
CIB initial contractor license	$300 ($480 from July 1, 2028)
PSI exam, per portion	$92 (trade and Business and Law are separate, so $184 for both)
Annual renewal	$200
Late renewal (more than 30 days after expiration)	$300

Bond, insurance and workers' compensation

An active contractor license needs three things on file with CIB (OAC 158:40-5-5):

• A $5,000 license bond, continuous, with a 30-day cancellation notice.
• A general liability certificate with limits of at least $50,000 combined single limit for bodily injury and property damage, naming CIB as certificate holder (not as additional insured).
• Proof of workers' compensation coverage or an exemption.

Without them, CIB issues an inactive contractor license. An inactive contractor may work as a journeyman but may not offer contracting services to the public.

Two more rules shape how you run the business. Every electrical firm needs a licensed electrical contractor employed full time who is an officer, partner or owner of the firm, and a contractor may represent only one electrical firm (OAC 158:40-5-3).

Renewal and continuing education

• The license renews every year and expires on the last day of your birth month: $200, or $300 if you renew more than 30 days late.
• Continuing education: 12 hours every three years, 6 of them on the codes adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission. You are exempt for three years after passing your current licensing exam.
• From November 1, 2026, a license expired for more than a year can be reinstated without retesting by paying the renewal fee and a $200 reinstatement penalty and completing the missed continuing education (59 O.S. 1688).

Reciprocity and exam equivalency

CIB's published reciprocity agreements are for journeyman licenses: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, for a license earned by exam and held at least a year.

• A contractor who qualifies under a written contractor reciprocity agreement is licensed first as a journeyman, then as a contractor after passing the Oklahoma Business and Law exam and filing the bond and insurance (OAC 158:40-7-5).
• From a state with no agreement, CIB may approve exam equivalency (OAC 158:40-9-2.4). It waives the trade exam, never Business and Law.

Residential or unlimited?

The Unlimited Electrical Contractor license covers commercial and industrial work as well, but it takes 12,000 hours, 6,000 of them commercial or industrial, plus two years as a licensed unlimited journeyman. If your work stays in houses and duplexes, the residential license gets you there sooner. See Oklahoma Unlimited Electrical Contractor requirements to compare.

Pass rates

CIB does not publish pass rates for the electrical exams.

Getting ready

Try our free practice test on the 2023 NEC, or see the full Oklahoma Residential Electrical Contractor exam prep. For the test itself, see Oklahoma Residential Electrical Contractor exam day.