After acquiring your preferred electrical licence in Oregon, the next big task ahead is maintaining it. You will have to meet various requirements to keep your licence current, which is where a majority of licence holders feel lost. The good thing is that the Oregon Building Codes Division (BCD) has all the information you need to renew your licence on their website.
Still, you have to go through so much detail to uncover exactly what you need for your specific licence classification owing to the rather large assortment of electrical licences that the state issues. That’s why this guide will come in handy if you’re trying to find out what you’re supposed to do to renew your licence in the least time possible.
First Things First, What’s The Expiration Date?
Electrical licences in Oregon are only valid for a maximum of 3 years. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about calculating your next expiry date manually since it’ll be printed on your licence. You can easily complete your online renewal as long as you’re within 45 days of the expiry date, which is why you should start planning your renewal early enough.
You don’t have to keep tracking this period, however, since the state will send a notice to your address 45 days before the expiry date as well. This can only happen if your address is current, so make sure to update it in case of any changes.
What’s the Renewal Process Like?
The Oregon electrical licence renewal is usually a three-step process:
i. Complete the required continuing education (CE)
ii. Submit your renewal application
iii. Clear the renewal fee
We’ll uncover the details about each step individually, so keep reading.
Continuing Your Education
This step is arguably the most important when renewing your licence. The requirements, typically the number of hours you need and what your course should cover, will vary depending on your licence type. The one thing that won’t change, however, is that you must meet your CE requirements to qualify for a renewal.
That’s why you should take your Oregon Electrical License Renewal CE course from a reputable provider like RocketCert. That way, you are sure your course not only has the required content and training hours but also additional information to help you excel in your career.
As for the number of hours your CE course should contain, we’ll focus on the most common licence types. In most cases, your continuing education course will have to contain topics on the Oregon rule and law (ORL), code changes (CC), and code-related (CR) content.
The two most common classifications are the general journeyman electrician (J) and general supervising electrician (S) licences. General journeyman electricians must take a CE course with a minimum of 24 hours. Of these, 12 should be spent on course-related (CR) content, 8 on code changes, and 4 on Oregon rule and law. General supervising electricians also have to take 4 ORL hours, 12 CC hours, and 8 CR hours, resulting in a total of 24 hours.
The other quite common type is the limited residential electrician licence (LR). If your licence is in this classification, you will need 4 ORL hours, 4 CR hours, and 8 CC hours so the total comes to 16 CE hours. Limited supervisor manufacturing plant electricians (PS), in contrast, need a total of 24 CE hours which should be made up of 4 ORL hours, 8 CR hours, and 12 CC hours.
Submitting Your Renewal Application and Paying the Fee
Once you’ve met all the renewal requirements, you can now submit your renewal application. This should be a rather easy process since the state has an online licence management tool for renewals.
You only need to have an account there which you will log in to and follow the easy steps to submit your application. This is also the time you pay your renewal fee, so keep that in mind as well. Though the fee varies for some licences, it’s $100 for general journeyman, general supervising, limited residential, and limited supervisor manufacturing plant electrician licence holders.
Enjoy a Hassle-Free Renewal Process
Your success as an electrician in Oregon depends heavily on how dedicated you are, not only towards offering high-quality services but also towards retaining your licence.
Remember you can’t practice legally without your licence, thus it’s crucial to renew it on time.
Though this process is not always straightforward, you can make it a tad friendlier by purchasing your CE course from leading education providers like RocketCert. That way, you not only get expertly developed courses but also assistance wherever you feel stuck!