The NC Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors

This page describes the board; it is not the board’s own. The State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors is the state agency that licenses electrical contracting in North Carolina. It has seven members, and only five are appointed by the Governor — the other two are designated by the Commissioner of Insurance and by a trade association. Terms run seven years, and no member may serve consecutive complete terms.

It is a different body, under a different Article, from the board that licenses general contractors, and the two are constituted differently in ways that are easy to check.

Who sits on it

G.S. 87-39(a) names every seat:

(a) The State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors shall continue as the State agency responsible for the licensing of persons engaging in electrical contracting within this State, and shall consist of one member from the North Carolina Department of Insurance to be designated by the Commissioner of Insurance; one member who has satisfied the requirements for an unlimited license as defined in G.S. 87-43.3 and who is a representative of the North Carolina Association of Electrical Contractors to be designated by the governing body of that organization; and five members to be appointed by the Governor: one from the faculty of The Greater University of North Carolina who teaches or does research in the field of electrical engineering, one who is serving as a chief electrical inspector of a municipality or county in North Carolina, one who has satisfied the requirements for an unlimited license as defined in G.S. 87-43.3 and who is a representative of the Carolinas Electrical Contractors Association operating a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation located in North Carolina which is actively engaged in the business of electrical contracting, and two who have no ties with the construction industry and who represent the interest of the public at large.

Read it as a balance of interests. Two seats are reserved for people with no ties to the construction industry, representing the public. Two are reserved for unlimited-license holders representing named trade associations — one designated by that association, one appointed by the Governor. One is an electrical engineering academic, one a municipal or county chief electrical inspector, and one comes from the Department of Insurance (G.S. 87-39(a)).

Terms are long and non-renewable back to back. G.S. 87-39 provides that “Members of the Board shall serve staggered seven-year terms” and that “Members of the Board shall not serve consecutive, complete terms.”

What it does

Its core duty is examination and certification. G.S. 87-42 requires that, “In order to protect the life, health and property of the public”, the Board “shall provide for the written examination of all applicants for certification as a qualified individual”.

Beyond that it receives applications, examines applicants, issues certifications and licenses on payment of the fees in G.S. 87-44, and — under the same section — “shall have power to make rules and regulations necessary to the performance of its duties and for the effective implementation of the provisions of this Article”. The classifications it issues against are at the classifications it issues.

The Board also sets the bar itself, within the statute: G.S. 87-42 gives it power to “prescribe the standards of knowledge, experience and proficiency to be required of qualified individuals, which may vary for the various license classifications.”

Three differences from the general contractors’ board

Both boards sit in Chapter 87 and both license construction work, which is why they are mistaken for one another. They are constituted differently in ways a reader can verify:

• Size. Nine members on the general contractors’ board (G.S. 87-2); seven here (G.S. 87-39).
• Who appoints. All nine are appointed by the Governor there (G.S. 87-2). Here five are, with one designated by the Commissioner of Insurance and one by the governing body of a trade association (G.S. 87-39(a)).
• Terms. Five years there, with up to two complete consecutive terms permitted (G.S. 87-2). Seven years here, and no consecutive complete terms at all (G.S. 87-39).

The general contractors’ board, its powers and the one thing it cannot do are at the general contractors’ board.

What it licenses, and what it does not

The Board licenses electrical contracting — the business of installing, maintaining, altering or repairing electric work, wiring, devices, appliances or equipment (G.S. 87-43). It certifies individuals in the same classifications, but the certification is not itself permission to contract. That distinction is the subject of what it actually licenses.

Work falling under another board’s jurisdiction is outside it. G.S. 87-10(b)(4) excludes from the general contractors’ Specialty classification “any operations now or hereafter under the jurisdiction, for the issuance of license, by any board or commission pursuant to the laws of the State of North Carolina” — which is the clause that keeps electrical work with this board rather than that one. How the two statutes meet on one project is at how electrical work sits against a contractor license.

The public record of who holds a license is searchable — see searching its license record.

This site is not affiliated with the State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors and cannot act for you with it. Its contact details and current fees are published on its own site. For the licensing system as a whole, start at the main licensing guide.