Electricians in Ottawa

Three things that sound the same and are not

The Electrical Safety Authority separates them plainly. A Licensed Electrical Contracting Business is the only business in Ontario that can be hired to do electrical work in your home. A certified electrician is a tradesperson trained and certified to do the work, employed by such a business, and not available to hire directly.

A Master Electrician is licensed by ESA to manage and supervise that business's work, and that licence is not an ECRA/ESA contractor licence either.

ESA also notes that general contractors are not licensed to do electrical work, so on a renovation the question is whether your general contractor has engaged a Licensed Electrical Contractor, not whether the crew includes someone who knows wiring.

Ask for the seven-digit number

A Licensed Electrical Contractor has a seven-digit ECRA/ESA licence number that proves it is authorised to offer electrical work to the public in Ontario. ESA says it appears on their vehicles, business cards and estimates, and advises asking to see it before you hire anyone. ESA runs a contractor locator so you can check the name yourself rather than taking the number on trust.

The notification is theirs to file, never yours

Under the Ontario Electrical Safety Code, electrical work has to be reported to ESA by filing a notification of work before the work starts, and whoever is doing the work is the one who files it. When you hire a licensed contractor they do this for you.

ESA calls it a red flag if a contractor asks you to file the notification in your name. The request usually means they cannot, and an unlicensed job leaves you carrying the consequences: ESA notes that an insurance claim linked to work performed by an unlicensed contractor may be denied, and that if an uninsured unlicensed contractor is hurt on your property you may be responsible.

The red flags ESA publishes, including the one about other trades

1. No ECRA/ESA licence number on the work vehicle, or an estimate with no licence number and no ESA notification fee on it.
2. They cannot produce the number when you ask, or the call ends when you ask for it.
3. You cannot find the company in ESA's Find a Licensed Electrical Contractor tool.
4. They do more than electrical work. ESA lists offering drywall, flooring, plumbing, snow removal or eavestrough cleaning alongside electrical as a warning sign in itself.
5. Cash only, a discount for cash, or no receipt. A labelled van operating under a different name. Being asked to buy all the supplies.
6. Being told your local electric utility does not need to be involved in a panel change, or being told to say you did the work yourself.