South Carolina Residential Electrical Contractor

One PSI trade exam of 60 questions in 3 hours, open book, and you need 44 correct (73.3%). Services, feeders and branch circuits (15) and general electrical knowledge (13, including theory, voltage drop, smoke alarms and blueprints) make up almost half. Then grounding and bonding (6), overcurrent protection (5), conductors and cables (5), and 4 each on raceways and boxes, lighting, specialty installations (pools and spas, garages, generators, wheelchair lifts) and safety. It covers residential buildings of up to 16 units and 3 stories.

Yes. The references are the NEC with South Carolina modifications (2023, or 2020 until July 1, 2027), the International Residential Code (2024, or 2021 until July 1, 2027, including the South Carolina edition or the commentary), Tom Henry’s Key Word Index, Ugly’s Electrical References and OSHA’s construction standards (29 CFR 1926). Books may be highlighted, underlined and permanently tabbed but not written in, and Post-it tabs and loose papers are not allowed. Bring a silent, non-programmable calculator.

Yes. You must also pass Business Management and Law for Residential Builders: 50 questions in 2 hours, 34 correct (68%) to pass, on the NASCLA Contractor’s Guide for South Carolina Residential Builders (8th or 9th edition; 9th only from April 9, 2027). It is a separate exam that we do not cover yet; our practice exam is the Residential Electrical trade exam only. PSI charges $75 for one portion or $94 for both.

Your exam eligibility lasts one year, with three attempts within 12 months, and you must pass both the trade and the Business and Law exams in that time or apply again. After three failures you wait 12 months from the last attempt before you can test again.

Apply to the Residential Builders Commission first. You need at least one year of residential electrical experience within the past five years, verified on an affidavit by each supervisor (a licensed residential electrical contractor or other appropriately licensed professional), with W-2s or 1099s and a recent credit report. The application fee is $135. Once approved, you get an eligibility letter and schedule with PSI.

Send the Commission your PSI results and the $220 license fee. If you will take on projects over $5,000 in labor and materials, you also file a $10,000 surety bond in your own name. The license renews every two years by June 30 of odd-numbered years, for $220.

Only through an exam waiver: a South Carolina Mechanical Contractor license with the electrical classification held by exam for at least a year; a license by exam held at least a year in North Carolina or Mississippi; passing the NASCLA accredited electrical exam within the past 3 years; or a master electrician certification by exam from the Municipal Association of South Carolina (1990 to 2025) or Carolinas AGC (from 2026). The Business and Law exam still applies.

From November 1, 2026, PSI allows the 2023 or the 2020 NEC (or the NEC Handbook of the same edition). After July 1, 2027, only the 2023 edition may be used. Our questions cite the 2023 NEC, so they match the exam on any date; if you test before July 2027 with the 2020 book, some rules carry different section numbers. South Carolina adopted the 2023 NEC with its 2024 building codes, which local jurisdictions enforce from January 1, 2027.

Yes, in three places. South Carolina’s Building Codes Council rewrites the dwelling GFCI list in 210.8(A) (receptacles in walk-out basements are excluded), the outdoor-outlet GFCI rule in 210.8(F) (for dwellings, with a listed-HVAC exception that expired September 1, 2026), and the dwelling AFCI list in 210.12(B), which drops kitchens and laundry areas. PSI says a state code overrides a national one when they conflict. Our questions stay off those three sections.

No remote option is offered. You test by computer at a PSI center: South Carolina sites include Columbia, Greenville, North Charleston, Beaufort and Myrtle Beach. Schedule online with PSI or at (855) 340-3701, and cancel or reschedule at least two days ahead to keep your fee.

Neither LLR nor PSI publishes pass rates for South Carolina’s electrical exams.