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Checked against primary sources 2026-09-07

What renewal depends on

Wisconsin Electrician Continuing Education: 24 or 18

Two numbers cover the whole state, 24 hours and 18 hours, and which one you owe depends on your grade rather than on your hours worked. There is one more thing worth saying plainly: no code update course requirement appears anywhere in the rule as published.

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On this page
  1. The hours, credential by credential
  2. Read the registered electrician line twice
  3. There is no code update course requirement in the rule
  4. What counts as acceptable continuing education
  5. Who keeps the records
  6. The waiver clause
  7. The trap for people who never sat the exam
  8. If the hours are late
  9. Questions people ask
  10. What this page cites

The hours, credential by credential

Each figure is quoted from the rule section that carries it.

No continuing education requirement is specified in the rule for the electrical apprentice registration or the electrical contractor license, and the registered master registration does not expire, so it has no renewal hours.

Read the registered electrician line twice

SPS 305.45 sets the term at one year: "The renewal of a registered electrician enrollment shall be for a term of one year." The same section requires "at least 24 hours of acceptable continuing education prior to the expiration date."

That is 24 hours every year for the entry level credential, and 24 hours every four years for a journeyman. It is the rule as written, and it is the single most surprising number in the Wisconsin set.

One exemption sits in the same section: individuals in a youth apprenticeship program under Wis. Stat. 106.13 are exempt from the continuing education requirement.

There is no code update course requirement in the rule

Competitors sell a Wisconsin code update course as though the state mandates one. No sentence in SPS 305.08, SPS 305.43, SPS 305.435, SPS 305.44, SPS 305.443, SPS 305.447 or SPS 305.45 requires that any portion of the hours be a code change or code update course. No figure, no subject mandate.

Here is the honest limit on that statement. SPS 305 was inside the same rulemaking scope as SPS 316, which the statement of scope lists as "SPS 302, 305, 316 and 324," and the published text we read carries a September 2023 register stamp on SPS 305.02. We have not read a post-update SPS 305.

So the correct sentence today is that no code update course requirement appears in the rule as published. If somebody tells you otherwise, ask them for the rule number and the register date.

What counts as acceptable continuing education

SPS 305.08 is the section that defines it, and the first rule is the one that matters: "Only courses, programs and seminars approved in writing by the department shall be used for credit to fulfill continuing education requirements."

The subject test is broad. Courses "shall relate to the skills and knowledge of one or more license, certification or registration categories."

Time is counted in half hours. Thirty minutes equals 0.5 hours, with credit rounded down to the nearest half hour.

We are not a continuing education provider and we do not offer approved hours. Everything on this site is study material for the examination, and none of it counts toward these hours.

Who keeps the records

Providers keep attendance records for five years, including the course name, the department ID number, the dates held, attendee names, applicable licenses and license numbers. A copy of the attendance record "shall be forwarded... to the department within 14 calendar days after completion of the course or program."

You keep your own too. SPS 305.08 requires license holders to "retain evidence of compliance with continuing education requirements throughout the license, certification or registration period."

One further limit: a course taken to fulfill late renewal obligations "may not be credited toward more than one renewal cycle for a specific license, certification or registration." Hours used to fix a late renewal cannot also carry the next one.

The waiver clause

Every electrician continuing education paragraph we read carries the same wording. A licensee "may apply to the department for waiver of the continuing education requirements... on the grounds of prolonged illness or disability or similar circumstances."

It is not automatic. The same clause says "Each application for waiver shall be considered individually on its merits by the department."

The trap for people who never sat the exam

SPS 305.44(6)(b)3. says it plainly: "A person who initially obtained his or her journeyman electrician license without having successfully passed a journeyman electrician license examination and whose request to renew his or her license is denied because of the failure to fulfill the continuing education requirements of subd. 1., shall be required to take and pass the journeyman electrician license examination in order to reacquire the journeyman electrician license."

The industrial journeyman section carries the same rule. So missing the hours costs an apprenticeship graduate the card and the exam, while a licensee who sat the exam originally faces a late renewal instead.

If that is you, the exam page and the free practice test are the place to start.

If the hours are late

SPS 305.07 lets a filer within one term after expiration document continuing education obtained after expiration, with a $25.00 processing fee to file the late continuing education form.

Past one term, reinstatement runs on a $200.00 administrative fee, an application and the application fee, and the department may ask for a demonstration of competence through examination or documented work experience.

Questions people ask

How many continuing education hours does a Wisconsin journeyman electrician need?

At least 24 hours of acceptable continuing education before the license expires, under SPS 305.44(6)(b)1. The term is four years, ending June 30.

How many hours does a residential journeyman need?

At least 18 hours before the expiration date of the license, under SPS 305.447. The industrial journeyman and residential master grades carry the same 18 hour figure.

Does Wisconsin require a code update course?

No code update course requirement appears in the rule as published. SPS 305.08 and every credential section we read set an hour count and a broad subject test, with no mandate that any part of it be a code change course.

Does a registered electrician really owe 24 hours a year?

SPS 305.45 sets a one year renewal term and requires at least 24 hours before the expiration date, so yes, as the rule is written. Individuals in a youth apprenticeship program under Wis. Stat. 106.13 are exempt.

Who approves continuing education in Wisconsin?

The department. SPS 305.08 says only courses, programs and seminars approved in writing by the department may be used for credit. We are not a provider and nothing on this site counts toward the hours.

What happens if I miss my continuing education?

Renewal can be denied. Within one term you can file late with a $25.00 processing fee, and past one term reinstatement takes $200.00 plus an application. If you never passed the journeyman examination, the rule then requires you to pass it to get the license back.

Can I get a waiver?

You can apply for one on the grounds of prolonged illness or disability or similar circumstances. The rule says each application is considered individually on its merits by the department.

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What this page cites

If your book is the other edition

The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.

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The Wisconsin examinations are open book, and the allowance is a generous one: the code book or handbook, one binder holding SPS 305, SPS 316 and printed notes, and up to two bound reference books. The DSPS exam pages still name the 2017 National Electrical Code, DSPS expects its exam updates to be completed by 1 October 2026, and the trade press reports the questions changing from that date. The field code, SPS 316, went to the 2023 edition on 1 September 2026, so for one month the book you work to and the book you test on are different.

All practice questions are original. They are not actual exam questions.

Built and maintained by Jeff Clerisier, Trojan Digital Marketing.

Every rule here is cited to the section it comes from, and corrections are logged in public with the date. This is study material rather than electrical advice, and it does not replace your own code book or your inspector.

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