Electrical licence types in Australia: A-grade, restricted, REC, apprentice
◢ Referenceby David MillarIf you're checking that your sparky is legitimate, working out what a 'restricted' licence on a swipe-card actually covers, or supporting a kid who's started an apprenticeship, the licence terminology gets confusing fast. Here's a plain-English breakdown of every licence class a customer is likely to see in Australia — and why 'licensed' on its own isn't quite enough.
Ask three Australians what makes someone "a licensed electrician" and you'll get three different answers. Some will mention the four-year apprenticeship. Some will say the swipe-card. A few will mention the business registration. They're all partly right — and that's the problem.
The Australian electrical trade has at least six different licence and registration classes, and on any given quote or job site you might see all of them in play. The bloke physically running the cable might hold an A-grade licence. The business that contracted with you holds a separate registration and pulls the safety certificate. The first-year apprentice handing him tools holds a third class entirely. The independent inspector who signs off the new switchboard before it gets energised has a fourth.
This is a guide to what each of those terms means in plain English, what work each one is actually allowed to do, and the small list of things you can ask before any sparky starts work to make sure your installation will end up properly documented.
The big picture: licences vs registrations
Before the alphabet soup, one distinction matters more than any other.
A licence is held by a person. It says that the named individual has been trained, assessed, and authorised to do certain electrical work.
A registration is held by a business. It says that the named entity (sole trader, partnership, company, trust) is allowed to contract with customers to do electrical work, hold the right insurance, and lodge the certificates afterwards. In Victoria this is called a Registered Electrical Contractor (REC). Other states use different names but the concept is the same.
You need both. A solo electrician who holds an A-grade licence personally still has to either be the registered contractor in their own right or work for one. Otherwise, the legal documentation that proves the work was compliant (the Certificate of Electrical Safety in Victoria, the Certificate of Compliance Electrical Work in NSW, and so on) has no one to issue it.
This is the single biggest gap people miss. "He's licensed" is necessary but not sufficient. The question to ask is: who is the registered contractor on this job?
The licence classes a customer might see
A-grade electrician (the unrestricted licence)
This is the licence most people picture when they hear "electrician". In Victoria it's literally called an A-grade electrician's licence. Other states call it different things (electrical wiring licence in NSW, electrical mechanic in Queensland, electrician's licence in WA), but the scope is broadly the same.
An A-grade licence holder can install, alter, repair, and maintain any low-voltage electrical installation on the customer side of the meter. Wiring a new house, upgrading a switchboard, adding a power point, installing a hot-water service, running sub-mains to a granny flat — the lot.
To get one in Victoria, the standard pathway is:
- Complete a four-year apprenticeship (UEE30820 — Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician)
- Pass the capstone assessment (a final practical and theoretical test)
- Apply to Energy Safe Victoria for the licence
- Renew every five years and meet ongoing requirements
The capstone assessment is the gate that turns a fully-trained-but-still-supervised apprentice into a licensed electrician who can sign their own work off. It includes both written exams and a practical assessment.
An A-grade licence on its own does not allow the holder to contract with the public for electrical work. For that, they either need to be the REC themselves, or work for one.
Apprentice / supervised worker
An electrical apprentice is undergoing the four-year UEE30820 qualification. They're a real worker on real jobs, paid the apprentice wage, working through about 800 hours of off-the-job theory at TAFE alongside the on-tools experience.
The point that matters for customers: apprentices can absolutely do electrical work. They run cables, install GPOs, terminate switchboards, fault-find — every task that an A-grade electrician does. What they can't do is the final supervisory function: signing off the work as compliant.
Apprentices must work under the direct supervision of a licensed electrician. The exact rules vary by year and by state, but the principle is consistent — an apprentice in their first year is much more closely supervised than one in their fourth, and there are limits on the work an apprentice can do unaccompanied. The supervising electrician is legally responsible for the apprentice's work and signs the certificate of compliance at the end of the job.
If you're a parent whose kid has just started an apprenticeship, this is also where the careers pathway sits. The apprenticeship is the only direct route to an A-grade licence, and the trade is one of the more stable career options going — there's a structural shortage of qualified electricians across Australia and that's not changing soon. Have a look at our careers page for what an apprenticeship at Millar Electrics actually looks like day-to-day.
Restricted electrical worker (REL)
A Restricted Electrical Licence authorises specific narrow tasks rather than general electrical work. The licence is targeted at tradespeople in adjacent industries who need to disconnect and reconnect electrical equipment as part of their primary trade.
Common examples in Victoria:
- Refrigeration mechanics: disconnect and reconnect the electrical supply to fridges, cool rooms, ice machines
- HVAC mechanical services technicians: disconnect and reconnect air-conditioning units, heat pumps, exhaust fans
- Appliance technicians: service ovens, cooktops, washing machines that are hardwired
- Lift mechanics: work on lift control systems
- Audio-visual installers: limited scope on integrated AV systems
A restricted licence is not a junior version of an A-grade licence. It's a narrower licence for a specific purpose. A refrigeration mechanic with an REL can disconnect your fridge to service it, but they can't add a power point in your bedroom, upgrade your switchboard, or run a new sub-main — that's outside their scope and would put them in breach of their licence conditions.
If a tradesperson hands you a swipe-card that says "restricted electrical worker", look at the back or ask what the restriction covers. The card will list the specific work types authorised.
Licensed Electrical Inspector (LEI) — Victoria
For some categories of work (known as prescribed electrical installation work in Victoria) the regulations require an independent inspection on top of the contractor's certification. Think new switchboards, new consumer mains, anything that changes the earthing system, increasing the supply (e.g. single-phase to three-phase).
The inspector who does that sign-off is a Licensed Electrical Inspector (LEI). This is a separate, additional licence on top of the A-grade — the inspector has been authorised by Energy Safe Victoria to inspect and certify prescribed work.
The LEI must be independent of the contractor doing the work. They can't inspect their own jobs. For prescribed work, the contractor will typically engage an LEI, build the inspection cost into the quote, and provide you with both the COES and the inspector's report.
Other states have similar concepts under different names — for example, NSW prescribed work involves the network operator's accredited inspectors, and Queensland uses Form 13/14 certificates with their own inspection regime.
Registered Electrical Contractor (REC) — Victoria
This is the one most customers don't know about and absolutely should.
A Registered Electrical Contractor is the business registered with Energy Safe Victoria to contract for electrical work. The REC is the entity that:
- Holds public liability insurance (typically AU$5M minimum for residential work)
- Lodges the Certificate of Electrical Safety with Energy Safe Victoria after each job
- Retains COES records for five years
- Warrants the workmanship
- Is the legal counterparty on any quote or contract
A solo electrician who works for themselves is usually both the REC (the business) and the licensed electrician (the person) — two roles, same human. A larger business has one REC registration covering multiple licensed electricians on staff. Either way, somebody on every legitimate Victorian job is a REC, and that REC is the entity that actually issues your certificate.
Victorian REC numbers look like REC-22849. Ours, for example, is REC-22849. They're public — you can look any REC up on the Energy Safe Victoria register by name or number.
If you ask "are you licensed?" and the answer is just "yep, I'm an A-grade", that's only half the story. Ask "and who's the REC?" — the answer should be a business name and a REC number.
Cabler (ACMA-registered) — telephony and data
This one trips up a lot of people because it sits outside the electrical licensing system entirely.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) regulates telecommunications cabling on the customer side of the network boundary. Anyone running phone lines, Cat6 data cabling, alarm cabling, fibre patch leads, intercom wiring or NBN customer-side cabling needs to be a registered cabler. There are three classes:
- Open: full scope, including optical fibre
- Restricted: phone and data only
- Lift: cabling within lift shafts
An A-grade electrician's licence does not automatically include cabler registration. They're separate authorisations, separate training, separate registers. Most working electricians hold both, but you can't assume — particularly for data-heavy work like a structured Cat6 fitout in a new build, ask whether the person doing it is a registered cabler.
CEC accreditation (solar and storage)
For grid-connected solar PV and battery storage systems, the Clean Energy Council (CEC) runs an accreditation scheme on top of the base electrical licence.
CEC accreditation is mandatory for:
- Claiming Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) — the federal solar rebate
- Most state-based solar and battery rebates
- Connection to most distribution networks under the relevant connection-agreement terms
There are separate accreditations for install vs design, and additional endorsements for grid-connect, off-grid, and battery storage. An electrician with an A-grade licence but no CEC accreditation can technically wire solar gear, but the system won't qualify for STCs and the customer will lose the rebate.
We have a separate, deeper article on this at CEC-accredited solar installer.
How the licences map across states
Australian electrical licensing is regulated at the state level, not federally, so the names and the specific scope vary. The table below maps each state's equivalent terms.
| State | Unrestricted licence (A-grade equivalent) | Contractor registration | Restricted | Compliance certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | A-grade electrician's licence | REC (Registered Electrical Contractor) | REL (Restricted Electrical Licence) | COES |
| NSW | Electrical wiring licence | Endorsed contractor licence (with nominated qualified supervisor) | DR (Disconnect/Reconnect) | CCEW |
| Queensland | Electrical mechanic | Electrical contractor licence | Restricted electrical licence | Form 13 / Form 14 |
| South Australia | Electrical worker's licence | Electrical contractor's licence | Restricted electrical worker | CoC (Certificate of Compliance) |
| Western Australia | Electrician's licence | Electrical contractor's licence | Restricted electrical licence | eNOC |
| Tasmania | Electrical practitioner licence | Electrical contractor licence | Restricted licence | Certificate of compliance |
| ACT | Electrician's licence | Electrical contractor licence | Restricted licence | Electrical safety certificate |
| Northern Territory | Electrical worker licence | Electrical contractor licence | Restricted electrical worker licence | Certificate of compliance |
The names differ but the structure is consistent: a personal licence to do the work, a separate business registration to contract for it, a restricted variant for adjacent trades, and a state-issued compliance certificate at the end of every job.
Under the Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) scheme, an electrician licensed in one state can generally work in another after notifying the second state's regulator. The licences themselves stay in the originating jurisdiction; AMR just lets the holder operate elsewhere without applying for a duplicate.
How to verify a licence (and a contractor)
Most state regulators run a public licence-search tool. In Victoria, that's the Energy Safe Victoria register at esv.vic.gov.au — you can search by name, licence number, or REC number and see whether the licence or registration is current.
If you've been given a quote and you want to do a quick sanity check before you hand over a deposit:
- Ask for the REC number (or the equivalent contractor registration number for your state). This is on the quote, the business card, and the side of the van for any legitimate operator. Victoria's REC numbers are formatted like
REC-XXXXX. - Check it on the regulator's register. ESV in Victoria, NSW Fair Trading licence search in NSW, ESO in Queensland, OTR in SA, Building and Energy in WA. The search will tell you whether the registration is current and matches the business name on the quote.
- Confirm they'll lodge the certificate. "Will you lodge the COES with Energy Safe Victoria when the work's complete and email me a copy?" If the answer is anything other than a confident yes, that's a flag.
- For prescribed work, ask who the inspector is. If you're doing a switchboard upgrade or a supply increase, the contractor should be quoting in an LEI's inspection. They'll usually name them.
- For solar, confirm CEC accreditation. Ask for the installer's CEC accreditation number and check it on the CEC's public register.
These five questions take about three minutes. They eliminate the vast majority of dodgy operators, and they cost nothing.
A word on the questions never to skip
If you take only two questions away from this article, take these:
Are you the REC, and what's your REC number?
Will you lodge the Certificate of Electrical Safety with Energy Safe Victoria after the job, and email me a copy?
The first question separates a licensed person from a registered business that can actually deliver compliant paperwork. The second confirms that the paperwork will exist. Anyone evasive on either one is not someone you want re-wiring your house.
For more on what the COES actually is and why insurers care so much about it, our Certificate of Electrical Safety guide covers the document itself in detail. For a similar tour of the regulators behind these licences — Energy Safe Victoria, NSW Fair Trading, the Electrical Safety Office and so on — see Australian electrical regulators.
Anything we've described here as a formal requirement should always be confirmed against the current rules from your state regulator before you rely on it for legal or insurance purposes — licensing rules are updated periodically and the regulator's word is the official one. We're a Victorian REC (REC-22849), based in Nunawading, and happy to walk through any of this on the phone if you've got a quote in front of you and want a sanity check.