Renewal and continuing education

A New Brunswick electrical licence is not issued once for life. Every licence under Regulation 84-165 expires one year after it is issued or renewed, so renewal is an annual task for every electrician and every contractor. The regulation itself is short on renewal requirements: an application and the prescribed fee. It does not set a continuing education requirement for renewing an electrician's or contractor's licence, although that could change and TIS can confirm the current position. Even without a formal requirement, the code changes, the regulation changes and the law around contracting changes, so a contractor who stops learning soon falls behind. This lesson covers renewal mechanics, what happens if a licence lapses, and practical ways to keep knowledge current.

The annual renewal

Section 13 of the regulation sets the term: a licence expires one year after the date it is issued or renewed, and it is renewed by submitting an application on the prescribed form with the prescribed charge. The province directs licence holders to renew technical licences online through Service New Brunswick, with separate renewal links for electricians and electrical contractors. The renewal fees are the same as the issue fees for the main licences: fifty dollars for the Class 3 electrician's licence and four hundred dollars for the Group 3 contractor licence, with lower fees for the renewal-only Group 2 licence and for sign installer renewals.

Because each licence runs from its own issue date, a company with several electricians has several renewal dates spread through the year, plus the contractor licence. Tantramar's calendar lists every licence and identification card with its expiry date, and Nicole sends each person a reminder 60 days and 30 days before expiry. The contractor licence gets the same treatment, with the added step of confirming that the qualified person's own licence is current.

When a licence lapses

A licence that has expired is not a licence. An electrician whose licence has lapsed is no longer authorized under section 11 to make, repair or maintain installations, and an employer who lets them keep working risks breaching the rule against employing unauthorized people, one of the grounds for suspension in section 14. A contractor whose licence has lapsed cannot obtain wiring permits. And a business whose qualified person's licence has lapsed may no longer meet the condition on which its own licence rests.

The practical fix is simple: renew early and confirm that the renewal went through. If a licence has lapsed, stop the affected work, renew immediately and ask TIS whether anything else is needed. Do not let anyone work on the assumption that the renewal is in the mail.

Keeping code knowledge current

The Canadian Electrical Code is revised about every three years, and New Brunswick adopts each new edition by amending the definition of Code in the regulation. The 2024 edition took effect on March 15, 2026. A contractor should study the changes in each new edition before it takes effect, update company standards and drawing notes, and brief the crews. Code change courses are offered by the code publisher, by industry associations and by colleges; the core courses in this program cover the 2024 edition and can be used as a refresher.

The New Brunswick modifications change too. When Regulation 2026-5 adopted the 2024 edition, it also replaced the dwelling unit receptacle rule. A contractor who reviewed only the national code changes would have missed that. The habit to build is to read the amending regulation itself whenever the province announces a change, and to check the TIS bulletins for transition guidance.

Keeping up with the rest of the law

Electrical rules are not the only ones that change. The Construction Remedies Act has been amended since it came into force, and the Construction Prompt Payment and Adjudication Act is waiting to be proclaimed. WorkSafeNB updates its policies regularly; its accident reporting policy, for example, was revised with an effective date of December 10, 2025. Tax thresholds, employment standards and insurance markets change as well. A contractor does not need to be an expert in all of these, but needs to know when something has changed and where to get advice.

Practical sources help. The province's online laws site shows the current version of each Act and regulation and lists amending regulations. WorkSafeNB publishes its policies and news. Industry associations, such as the provincial construction association and electrical contractors' associations, send members updates on legislation that affects them. Suppliers and manufacturers explain product changes. Tantramar's approach is to have one person responsible for each area: Émilie for the code and the electrical regulation, Nicole for business and tax rules, and Gilles, until he retires, for contracts and liens.

from datetime import date, timedelta

licences = {
    "Gilles Class 3": date(2026, 11, 30),
    "Owen ID card": date(2026, 12, 1),
    "Contractor licence": date(2027, 4, 15),
    "Emilie Class 3": date(2027, 6, 18),
}
today = date(2026, 11, 10)
for name, expires in sorted(licences.items(), key=lambda kv: kv[1]):
    for lead in (60, 30):
        remind = expires - timedelta(days=lead)
        status = "send now" if remind <= today < expires else ("past" if remind < today else "scheduled")
        print(f"{name:<20} {lead}-day reminder {remind}  {status}")

Gilles Class 3       60-day reminder 2026-10-01  send now
Gilles Class 3       30-day reminder 2026-10-31  send now
Owen ID card         60-day reminder 2026-10-02  send now
Owen ID card         30-day reminder 2026-11-01  send now
Contractor licence   60-day reminder 2027-02-14  scheduled
Contractor licence   30-day reminder 2027-03-16  scheduled
Emilie Class 3       60-day reminder 2027-04-19  scheduled
Emilie Class 3       30-day reminder 2027-05-19  scheduled

The reminder list shows which renewals need action today. Gilles's licence and Owen's card are both inside the 30-day window and get immediate attention.

A personal learning plan

Without a formal continuing education requirement, it helps to set a personal one. Émilie's plan for the year has four parts: a full review of the 2024 code changes before she becomes Tantramar's qualified person, a short course on workplace electrical safety, a seminar on the Construction Remedies Act offered by a law firm through the construction association, and a monthly hour reading TIS bulletins and WorkSafeNB updates. She records each activity, which keeps her on track and gives her something to show customers and insurers who ask how the company keeps its people current.

Records worth keeping

Renewal and continuing education are easier with good records. For each person, keep copies of the certificate of qualification, every licence or identification card with its dates, and a log of courses and training completed. For the company, keep the contractor licence and each renewal, the written certification naming the qualified person and any correspondence with TIS about it, insurance certificates, WorkSafeNB clearance or account records, and the business registration. Store them in one place, with digital copies backed up.

These records answer questions that come up unexpectedly: a general contractor asking for proof of licensing before a subcontract is signed, a customer asking whether the electrician who did their work was licensed at the time, an insurer asking about training after a claim, or TIS asking about the company's qualified person. Answering in minutes rather than days builds trust.

Good records also make the yearly renewals routine. When every expiry date is in one calendar and every document in one file, renewal becomes a ten-minute task instead of a scramble.

Planning for a change of edition

The next code edition will arrive about three years after the 2024 edition, and New Brunswick will adopt it by amending the definition of Code again. A contractor can prepare in advance: when the new edition is published, buy a copy, take a code change course, review company standards and typical designs against the changes, and watch for the amending regulation and any TIS transition guidance. Starting early avoids a rush when the new edition takes effect and jobs designed under the old one are still under way.

Building knowledge across the team

Keeping knowledge current is not only the qualified person's job. When the whole crew understands the main rules, fewer mistakes reach the inspector, and the qualified person spends less time correcting work. Short regular sessions work better than occasional long ones. Tantramar's Monday meeting includes ten minutes on one topic: a code change, a TIS bulletin, a safety lesson from an incident elsewhere or a question an inspector raised. The person who brings the topic changes each week, so apprentices take a turn too.

Logan's first topic was the replaced dwelling unit receptacle rule. Explaining it to the crew forced him to read the regulation carefully, and he caught a detail that Owen, trained in Nova Scotia, had missed. Teaching is one of the fastest ways to learn, and it helps the whole company stay current between formal courses.

Owen keeps a simple record of his own learning too: the date, the topic, how long he spent and where the material came from. Because his identification card is temporary, he also tracks his progress toward recognition of his Nova Scotia certificate, so that his Class 3 licence is in place before the card expires and the renewal cycle can begin on the same footing as everyone else's.