Electrical contractor insurance in Texas

Texas electrical licensing: the TDLR insurance filing

Texas licenses electricians and electrical contractors at the state level through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) Electricians program. The business license is the one with insurance strings attached. You can't get it, renew it or keep it active without general liability on file.

Here's the floor TDLR sets in 16 TAC §73.40, and it has to stay in force every day the license is active:

• $300,000 per occurrence, bodily injury and property damage combined
• $600,000 aggregate
• $300,000 aggregate for products and completed operations

You file a certificate of insurance (COI) with your first application, again at each renewal and whenever TDLR asks. A standard certificate with a 30-day cancellation notice is accepted. The same rule applies to electrical sign contractors and residential appliance installation contractors. And if a customer asks, you must hand over your insurer's name, your policy number and your agent's name, address and phone.

Products and completed operations covers damage that shows up after the job is finished, like a meter base lug that loosens and arcs six months after the inspector signs off. Because TDLR names a separate aggregate for it, a policy that carves out completed work probably won't satisfy the filing. The rule also sets a carrier floor: the insurer must be admitted in Texas, an eligible surplus lines carrier, or rated B+ or better by A.M. Best.

The master electrician behind every contractor license

To hold an electrical contractor license, the owner must be a licensed master electrician or the business must employ one (Occupations Code §1305.159). A master can be assigned to only one contractor at a time, unless that master owns more than half of the business. Treat that seat like any key position and know who steps in if your master leaves.

License classes and what cities can still do

TDLR's individual licenses run from apprentice and residential wireman through journeyman, journeyman industrial, journeyman lineman, maintenance electrician and master, plus sign classes. Licensing is statewide, but §1305.201 lets cities inspect, adopt local NEC amendments and issue municipal licenses. A city can't make a state licensee sit for a local exam. Austin and San Antonio still keep their own electrical contractor registration lists, and their utility solar programs check them.

Alarm, fire alarm and solar sit under other rules

Security alarm companies are licensed by the Department of Public Safety's Private Security Program, and that company license needs its own GL: $100,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage, $50,000 for personal injury and $200,000 aggregate. Fire alarm installers register with the State Fire Marshal and need a $100,000 per-occurrence minimum and $300,000 in the aggregate, completed operations included.

On solar, the Residential Solar Retailer Regulatory Act (SB 1036) regulates who sells residential systems, and TDLR registration of solar retailers and salespeople began September 1, 2026. It covers the sale, not the install. Wiring a PV array still requires a TDLR-licensed electrical contractor.

Who TDLR doesn't license, and who inspects

Some work sits outside chapter 1305 entirely: utility-controlled equipment, a telecom provider's own communications work, and in-house maintenance electricians who aren't doing new construction. Everyone else doing non-exempt electrical work must be licensed and work through a licensed contractor. TDLR doesn't inspect jobs. Cities, counties and regions do, so the inspector on your Houston service change answers to the city, not to TDLR.

Workers' comp and the non-subscriber decision

Most private Texas employers get to choose whether they carry workers' comp, and TDLR asks for that choice in writing. Your license filing shows either that you carry comp (insured or self-insured) or that you've elected not to. Going without is a lawful licensing option, but it isn't free.

Here's what a non-subscriber signs up for. You file DWC Form 005 with the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation each year between February 1 and April 30, within 30 days of hiring your first employee and within 10 days of dropping coverage. You give employees written notice and post it. If an injured journeyman sues, you lose the contributory negligence, assumption of risk and fellow-employee defenses. You keep only intoxication and the worker's intentional act.

Public work flips the choice. Under Labor Code §406.096, a government entity that signs a construction contract must get written proof that the contractor covers every employee on the project, and each sub hands its certificate up the chain. Utility programs can require comp too, as Austin Energy does.

Here's the move for a growing shop. A two-person crew doing residential service might live with the non-subscriber trade-off. Once you're bidding city, school or utility work, comp stops being optional in practice.

Example scenario: A non-subscriber shop on the Gulf Coast sends an apprentice up a ladder to pull MC cable above a drop ceiling. He falls and breaks a wrist. With no comp policy, the shop pays the medical bills itself, and if the apprentice sues, it can't argue he was careless.

Some non-subscribers buy occupational accident insurance, which pays scheduled medical and wage benefits. It isn't comp and doesn't give back the lost defenses. Get advice from a Texas employment lawyer before going non-subscriber, and see our workers' comp guide for electricians for how the policy works.

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Texas risks that move your premium

Three things shape a Texas electrical account more than anything else: Gulf storms, giant power loads and a code change landing in the middle of open jobs.

Hurricanes, derechos and restoration work

Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Matagorda Bay in July 2024 and disrupted power for about 2.7 million customers, and hundreds of thousands were still dark a week later. A May 2024 derecho with winds over 100 mph had already knocked out more than a million. Post-storm work means rushed generator and transfer switch installs, rebuilt service masts and reconnections, which stack up completed-operations and equipment exposure. Price your completed-operations limits for that surge.

Data centers and the large-load queue

ERCOT board materials from June 2026 show about 438 GW of large-load interconnection requests in the queue, with roughly 3.9 GW expected to energize in the fourth quarter of 2026. Those scopes come with wrap-ups, bonding and contract limits well above anything TDLR asks for.

A code change mid-project

Texas moved to the 2026 NEC on September 1, 2026, after running on the 2023 edition since September 2023. TDLR kept a limited Texas exception that spares outlets for outdoor HVAC equipment at dwellings from the 210.8(F) GFCI rule, and state exams switched to the 2026 code the same day. Check which edition your permit falls under before you bid a job that straddles the change, since a failed inspection becomes a callback.

Texas electrical markets we serve

Texas is really several electrical markets. Gulf Coast storm work, utility solar programs in the Hill Country, and fab and data-center megaprojects each ask different things of your policy.

What sets the price of a Texas electrical policy

The state minimum is modest, so your contracts usually decide what you buy. TDLR asks for $300,000 per occurrence, while CPS Energy's solar program wants $1,000,000 and Austin Energy wants $500,000 in CGL plus comp and auto. Each jump in limit, and each additional insured endorsement, adds premium.

The comp decision moves the number too. Carrying comp adds a payroll-rated premium; going without shifts injury cost onto your balance sheet and your legal exposure. Because TDLR accepts surplus lines carriers, a shop with a rough loss history usually still has a path to a compliant filing.

What you pay depends on your payroll and class codes, revenue, loss history, the type of electrical work you do and the limits you pick. Our electrical contractor insurance cost guide breaks down the drivers.

Two Texas habits save money and headaches. First, ask for blanket additional insured wording instead of adding names one job at a time, since CPS Energy and the City of Austin both want to be named. Second, send TDLR a fresh certificate the day you change carriers, because the rule expects the filing to stay current, not just correct at renewal.

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Our Texas license

Electrician Insurance Group is a brand of The Allen Thomas Group, licensed in Texas (License #3256838, NPN 7642818). Electrical contractors anywhere in Texas can request a quote, and we'll ask how your TDLR filing reads before we place anything.