ECRA/ESA licence

Last updated: September 2026

What the licence is

ECRA stands for Electrical Contractor Registration Agency, the arm of the Electrical Safety Authority that runs contractor licensing. The ECRA/ESA number on a van, a quote or an invoice is the business's Electrical Contractor Licence number. It licenses the company. It says nothing about the competence of whoever turns up.

ESA states the requirement in one line: "If you intend to offer electrical installation services to the public, you must be licensed by ESA. It is the law."

Where it comes from

The licence is issued under the Electricity Act, 1998 and the Licensing Regulation, Ontario Regulation 570/05. ESA puts the ongoing obligation this way: "Once licensed, Licensed Electrical Contractors and Master Electricians are responsible for ensuring compliance with the Electricity Act and Licensing Regulation (O. Reg. 570/05), and other applicable laws." Working without one is not a paperwork problem. ESA says offenders "may be subject to compliance and enforcement procedures, including prosecution."

What you need to hold one

From ESA's own requirements page, checked 5 September 2026:

• "Be a Master Electrician, or have at least one Master Electrician working for you at all times"
• "Have public liability and property damage insurance coverage of at least $2,000,000"
• "Be registered with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, if required to register under the Work Place Safety and Insurance Act, 1997"
• "Have an address for service in Ontario"

The Master Electrician requirement is the gate most people hit. It is a separate ESA qualification with its own application and examination, and it sits on top of a Certificate of Qualification rather than replacing it.

What it costs

ESA publishes a 2026 licensing fee schedule effective 1 April 2026, after a stated 1.9% increase. The amounts are in a PDF that would not open for us on 5 September 2026, so we are not printing a figure. Take it from ESA directly.

What the licence does not authorise

It is not a qualification to do the work. Electrician, Construction and Maintenance is a compulsory trade, so the person on the tools still needs a Registered Training Agreement, a Provisional Certificate of Qualification, or the 309A itself. A licence on the door does not cover an unqualified worker.

It says nothing about fire alarm competence. Nothing in the licence satisfies Ontario Fire Code Division C, Article 1.2.1.2, which requires a program or course acceptable to the Fire Marshal before anyone performs annual tests or inspections, or repairs, replaces or alters components. A fully licensed contractor with no CFAA registered or Certi-Fire certified technician on staff cannot legally do that work in Ontario.

It is not a fire alarm contractor licence. Ontario has no such thing. Quebec does the reverse and licenses the firm rather than the individual, through the RBQ under subcategory 13.2.

The stack, in order

For a one person shop installing and servicing fire alarm systems in Ontario, that is four separate pieces of paper from three different bodies: the 309A to be on the tools, Master Electrician status and then the ECRA/ESA licence to sell the work, and CFAA registration or Certi-Fire to do Fire Code work on a system already in service. 309A or CFAA, what each one authorises untangles the last two, and who can legally work on fire alarms in Ontario covers the whole picture. The regulator itself is described at ESA.

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