How do I check an electrician's licence?

There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Victorian Building Authority and Energy Safe Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

What percentage of Australian electricians have a verifiable ABN?

14.8% of the 2,959 electricians in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 12.9% across all trades.

How many reviews should an electrician have?

The median electrician here has 21. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.

How to choose an electrician

Short answer

Check the licence first — electricians must be licensed in every state. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 2,959 Australian electricians in this directory, only 14.8% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 4.5% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.

Electricians handle wiring, switchboards, power points, lighting, safety switches and fault finding. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the trade as a whole.

Electricians must be licensed

Electrical work requires a licence in every state and territory, with no exceptions and no dollar threshold. Unlicensed electrical work is illegal everywhere in Australia, and it will usually void your home insurance if it causes a fire.

There is no national licence register in Australia — each state and territory runs its own. The regulator for your state is listed at the bottom of this guide, and checking a number takes about a minute.

What 2,959 Australian electricians actually publish

We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For electricians:

What we checked	Electricians	All trades
Publish an ABN we could confirm	14.8%	12.9%
Listed phone matches their own website	43.6%	44.3%
Listed phone contradicts their own website	4.5%	5.5%
Website responded when we checked	64.9%	70.8%
Corroborated by two or more sources	95.2%	95%
Median number of Google reviews	21	18

What goes wrong with electricians

Work that looks finished but was never tested or certified
No certificate of electrical safety handed over at the end
A licence that covers a different class of work than the job needs

What to ask before the work starts

What is your electrical licence number, and which state issued it?
Will I get a certificate of electrical safety when the work is done?
Is the person doing the work licensed, or an apprentice under supervision?

A electrician who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.

The median matters more than the average

The median electrician in this directory has 21 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.

It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.

Where the electricians are

Melbourne (138), Brisbane (118), Sydney (109), Perth (86), Gold Coast (76), Newcastle (55). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best electrician in the country is no help if they are four states away.

Where to check a licence, by state

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.

NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
VICVictorian Building Authority, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers

Common questions

Do electricians need a licence in Australia?: Yes. Electrical work requires a licence in every state and territory, with no exceptions and no dollar threshold. Unlicensed electrical work is illegal everywhere in Australia, and it will usually void your home insurance if it causes a fire.
How do I check an electrician's licence?: There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Victorian Building Authority and Energy Safe Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
What percentage of Australian electricians have a verifiable ABN?: 14.8% of the 2,959 electricians in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 12.9% across all trades.
How many reviews should an electrician have?: The median electrician here has 21. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.

Compare electricians near you

2,959 electricians, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.

How to choose an electrician in Australia