Oklahoma Unlimited Electrical Contractor License: Requirements, Fees, and Two PSI Exams

Oklahoma Unlimited Electrical Contractor License: Requirements and the Exams

Oklahoma licenses electrical contractors statewide through the Construction Industries Board (CIB) under the Electrical License Act and OAC 158:40. The Unlimited Electrical Contractor license is the top commercial and industrial license: it covers the design, layout, installation, repair and alteration of electrical systems for light, heat, power, data and communications. CIB decides who is eligible; PSI gives the exams. Here is what the license takes.

Experience

Under OAC 158:40-7-1(a), you must be at least 18 and verify 12,000 hours (six years) of on-the-job experience in electrical construction work, earned while employed by a licensed electrical contractor.

• At least 6,000 of those hours must be commercial or industrial.
• Up to 2,000 hours of verified classroom time in formal electrical education can count toward the 12,000.
• Two years as a licensed unlimited journeyman. You must show two years' experience as a licensed unlimited electrical journeyman before CIB issues the contractor license.

If you are not there yet, start with the Oklahoma Journeyman Electrician license. If you run electrical work without doing field work yourself, the Limited Electrical Contractor license may fit you better.

Two exams, not one

Every Oklahoma electrical contractor must pass both portions of the contractor exam, at 70% on each (OAC 158:40-9-2):

Portion	Questions	Time	Pass mark	Fee
Unlimited Electrical Contractor trade exam	100 scored	240 minutes	70%	$92
Electrical Business and Law	50 scored	120 minutes	70%	$92

The trade exam is open book on the 2023 NEC as adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission (OUBCC), OSHA's 29 CFR 1926 and Ugly's Electrical References. It uses the same 13-area outline as the unlimited journeyman exam; what is on the exam breaks it down.

Business and Law is a separate exam on bidding, contracts, finance, payroll, liens and Oklahoma licensing rules. See Oklahoma Electrical Business and Law requirements and the Business and Law exam prep.

A passed portion is banked for three years from the date CIB approves you to test. Pass the other portion inside that window and you only retake the one you missed; let it lapse and you retake both. If you already hold an Oklahoma electrical contractor license and passed Business and Law for it, adding another contractor category does not require Business and Law again.

A trade pass can become a journeyman license. If you pass only the trade portion, you can apply that score to an unlimited journeyman license, as long as CIB receives the journeyman application and fee within one year of passing. The three-year clock on the contractor exams keeps running.

Applying

1. Submit the contractor application to CIB with the $30 application fee.
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, at $92 per portion. PSI fees are non-refundable and non-transferable.
4. Pass both portions, then meet the bond, insurance and workers' compensation requirements.

Fees

Fee	Amount
CIB contractor application	$30
CIB initial contractor license	$300 ($480 from July 1, 2028, under Senate Bill 1732)
PSI exam, per portion	$92 ($184 for both)
Annual renewal	$200
Late renewal (more than 30 days after expiration)	$300

Bond, insurance and workers' comp

An active contractor license needs three things on file with CIB's Bonds and Insurance Unit (OAC 158:40-5-5):

• A continuous $5,000 license bond.
• A certificate of general liability insurance of at least $50,000 combined single limit for bodily injury and property damage, with the Construction Industries Board named as certificate holder (not as an additional insured).
• Proof of workers' compensation coverage or an exemption.

Without all three, CIB issues an inactive contractor license. That lets you work as a journeyman but not contract. You can switch to active at any time by filing the bond and insurance. The bond and insurance can be waived if your employer files an affidavit that you will only do electrical work on its own property and that it assumes financial responsibility.

Once active, display the firm name and your license number (preceded by "OK") on both sides of every work vehicle in letters at least 2 inches high, and put the license number on all advertising, contracts and bids (OAC 158:40-5-4).

Pass rates

CIB does not publish pass rates for the electrical exams.

Renewal and continuing education

• The license renews every year and expires on the last day of your birth month. Active and inactive contractor licenses both renew annually.
• $200, or $300 if you renew more than 30 days late.
• 12 hours of continuing education every three years, 6 of them on the codes OUBCC adopts. 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: file a reinstatement application, pay the renewal fee plus a $200 penalty, and complete the missed continuing education (59 O.S. 1688).

Electing to renew as a journeyman is a permanent change of category. To go back to contractor, you retake and pass the contractor exam.

Reciprocity

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.

For contractors, reciprocity is narrower than it looks. A contractor who qualifies under a written contractor agreement is licensed first as a journeyman, and becomes a contractor only 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 if it has already approved that jurisdiction's exam. Equivalency waives the trade exam but never Business and Law (OAC 158:40-9-2.4). Either way, plan on taking Business and Law.

Getting ready

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