New York State is in the DARK AGE when it comes to licensing and certifications and even education of electrical personel on all levels.
1. The state does not certify or otherwise enforce much about electrical inspectors. The municipalities are required to take care of that on a local level. They hire 3rd party inspection agencies, who in turn hire their own inspectors. There are some of those agencies who have somewhat shakey practices as to hiring.
2. Outside of NYC the licensing of electrical people is different in each and every area. Before you do any work in the area you are interested in, call the municipality and they will let you know. There are many municipalities that do not require a license in NY State and if your dog can pull wire, he can work
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This is not going to change for a long time, because of politics!
The funny part of this is that the states that surround NY are state licensed.
Even more funny is in NY if you want to cut hair you need a state license and have to take 10 of CEUs .
In NY there is no requirement for education of electricians on any level.
The good part. There are a lot of very talented electricians in NY. The talented ones have struggled to get ahead as the locations to receive an education are slim to none in some areas.
I live 30 minutes by train north of Grand Central Station in NYC, and except for my training center there are no training centers for the general public within an 1 1/2 hours from me!!! The unions have their training centers, but since training is not mandatory, most will not go and it is not profitable for bigger schools/training centers to open here.
In the 1 1/2 hour radius I mentioned by the way there are approximately 10,000 to 12,000 electricians working. We are one of the busiest areas in the country without any formal training for the nonunion electricians. You can imagine what some of the work is like- very sad indeed!
Pierre