Wisconsin Master Electrician License: Requirements, Experience, and How to Apply

Wisconsin Master Electrician License: Requirements and How to Apply

The Master Electrician license is the top general electrician license the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) issues. Here is what it takes to get one by examination.

Experience

DSPS accepts either of two routes into the master exam:

• A bachelor's or master's degree in electrical engineering, or
• 60 months and 10,000 hours of electrical experience.

That is a year and 2,000 hours more than the 48 months and 8,000 hours on the journeyman experience route.

Applying and testing

1. Apply through LicensE, DSPS's online licensing system, with your degree or documented experience.
2. Pay the exam fees: $95 to Pearson VUE and $30 to DSPS.
3. Sit the exam at a DSPS paper-exam site or a Pearson VUE computer-based testing center in Wisconsin: 50 questions in 4 hours, open book, 70% to pass. What is on the exam has the details.

The exam is on the 2023 NEC. Wisconsin adopted it in SPS 316.007 effective September 1, 2026, replacing the 2017 NEC, and DSPS says trades exam questions reflect the change from October 1, 2026. Older prep sites that name PSI as the vendor or teach the 2014 or 2017 NEC are out of date.

Wisconsin also has a Residential Master credential; this article covers the general Master Electrician license.

Keeping the license

Licenses run on four-year terms and expire on June 30. A master needs 24 hours of continuing education each term to renew.

Getting ready

Fifty questions means each one is worth 2% of your score, so there is less room to give any away. Try our free 10-question practice test on the 2023 NEC, or see the full Wisconsin Master Electrician exam prep. For the journeyman route, see Wisconsin Journeyman Electrician requirements.