Navigating Your MN Electrical License Continuing Education Requirements

Whether you’re a licensed master electrician, an unlicensed power limited technician, or somewhere in between, you’re probably aware that the state of Minnesota requires you to complete some continuing education (CE) periodically. But how many CE hours do you need? How often do you need them? And what does the Minnesota electrical license renewal process?

We’ve built this quick guide to help electricians throughout Minnesota stay on top of their continuing education requirements.

Minnesota electrician continuing education requirements by license type

If you’re a licensed electrician in Minnesota, your license is good for two years. By the time your current license ends and you need to apply for renewal, you need to have completed a certain number of CE hours.

The following license types need to take 16 hours of continuing education during each two-year license period:

Master electricians
Journeyworker electricians
Maintenance electricians
Power limited technicians

Satellite installers, you need 4 hours of CE. Linemen, you don’t need to worry about continuing education.

You have to complete your CE hours before your license’s expiration date, so mark your calendar to get started in advance. It’s worth it. If you try to renew your license without having completed the required CE, your license could get suspended and the state may charge you a $1,000 fine.

Continuing education requirements for unlicensed Minnesota electricians

Unlicensed electricians and unlicensed power limited, you’re not off the hook. Although you don’t need to complete CE to renew your license, the state still requires you to complete CE regularly. It’s their way of ensuring you know your stuff.

Specifically, you need to complete 2 hours of continuing education before your annual registration renewal. Make sure you finish your hours before your current registration expiration date.

Finding the right CE hours for your license type

Now, back to licensed electricians. It’s not enough to take your 16 hours (or 4 hours, if you’re a satellite installer) and call it a day. The state requires that a certain number of your hours focus on the National Electrical Code (NEC).

By license type, the number of required NEC-focused hours are:

12 for master electricians
12 for journeyworker electricians
12 for maintenance electricians
12 for installers
4 for power limited technicians
4 for satellite installers (yes, all of your hours need to be NEC-focused)

Oh, and that’s not all. On top of making sure you’re taking the right number of total hours and NEC hours, you also need to make sure you get your hours from a state-approved continuing education provider.

Fortunately, the state maintains an online directory of approved continuing education courses. We also have a wide range of approved Minnesota electrician continuing education courses available within our easy-to-use site. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see our approval letter from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

If you took CE hours from a provider that isn’t approved by the state, you can submit a Course Approval Application — but it’s extra work for you. Choosing CE courses from an approved provider makes your life easier.

After you complete your continuing education

While your CE provider should send information about the completion of your CE hours to the state, it’s always a good idea to keep yourself covered. Save the certificate of completion you get when you finish your hours. That way, you’ll always have a record that your license or registration is up to date.

There you have it. Now you know the annual or biannual continuing education requirements you need to meet based on your Minnesota electrician license or registration type.