Commercial Electrician Rates: $100 to $150 an Hour (2026)

Billed rates. Tech Energy America is a Phoenix-area supplier publishing local estimates; it does not do installations.

Do this now: sparks, smoke, a downed line or a dead circuit

Work down this list in order; the first two are not jobs for an electrician.

1. Sparks, smoke or a burning smell: get everyone out and call 911 from outside. Do not stay to open the panel or look for the source.
2. A downed power line: stay far away, treat every wire as live and call 911, as FPL's power line safety guidance says; then report it to the electric utility.
3. Water near outlets or the panel: shut off the breaker only if you can reach the panel from a dry spot. If you cannot, stay out of the room.
4. One circuit dead: unplug everything on it and reset the breaker one time. If it trips again, stop; breaker keeps tripping explains why.
5. Equipment that has to stay on: if a tripped breaker feeds refrigeration, servers or medical equipment, move what you can to a working circuit and do not reset it more than once.
6. Then call an electrician and ask for the service call fee before anyone is sent.

Is it an emergency? When a business needs an electrician tonight

Call tonight for burning smells, heat or buzzing at a panel, outlet or switch, a tingle from equipment, or a breaker that trips again and again, all warning signs ESFI lists. Expect to pay for it: HomeGuide puts night and weekend rates at $150 to $200 an hour, and Tech Energy America says commercial after-hours work in the Phoenix area runs 2 to 3 times the day rate.

A lighting retrofit, a tenant buildout or a new circuit for equipment can wait for a scheduled bid, which is cheaper and easier to compare.

Commercial electrician rates

Commercial electricians bill $100 to $150 an hour on average in HomeGuide's February 2026 guide, which says many charge 10% to 20% or more above their residential rates; its own comparison table lists $100 to $130. A Phoenix-area supplier, Tech Energy America, puts local commercial troubleshooting at $85 to $165 an hour plus materials. HomeGuide puts electricians overall at $50 to $130 an hour.

The billed rate is not the wage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median electrician wage at $30.38 an hour in May 2025, and $61,570 a year for electricians working for electrical contractors.

Commercial electrical services

Commercial electrical services cover wiring, lighting, panels and maintenance for businesses. Typical jobs:

• Troubleshooting and repair: dead circuits, tripping breakers, failed fixtures, and outlets that are warm or buzzing.
• Tenant buildouts: power, data and lighting for a new office, store or restaurant layout.
• Lighting retrofits to LED fixtures, indoors and out.
• Service and panel upgrades for new equipment, kitchen lines or EV chargers.
• Backup power: see generator installation.
• Scheduled maintenance and inspections of panels and switchgear.

Commercial electrical contractor pricing for projects

Commercial electrical contractors usually price projects by scope, not by the hour, says AJ Long Electric, a Northern Virginia contractor that publishes its price ranges. The figures below come from two regional businesses, not national surveys; use them to sanity-check a bid, not to set one.

Regional figures from a Virginia contractor and an Arizona supplier. Service upgrades are quoted per project after load and utility design review.

Tenant buildout electrical cost

Tenant buildout electrical work runs $8 to $25 per square foot in AJ Long Electric's Virginia price guide, from $8 to $12 for an open office to $20 to $25 or more for a restaurant, and $4.50 to $9.50 per square foot for office space in Tech Energy America's Phoenix estimates.

Before asking for bids, have the floor plan, the list of equipment that needs power, and any landlord requirements for the space. A bid based on drawings is easier to compare than one based on a walk-through.

Commercial lighting retrofits

A commercial LED lighting retrofit runs $75 to $200 per fixture in AJ Long Electric's price guide. The Department of Energy says residential LEDs use at least 75% less energy than incandescent lighting and last up to 25 times longer.

The federal 179D deduction is winding down. The IRS says it covers energy efficient interior lighting, HVAC and hot water, and building envelope work, at $0.58 to $1.16 per square foot for tax year 2025, or $2.90 to $5.81 with prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements met. IRS fact sheet FS-2025-05 says the deduction is not allowed for property whose construction begins after June 30, 2026. Ask your tax adviser how that date applies to your project.

Code inspections and electrical maintenance

NFPA 70B became a standard for electrical equipment maintenance in 2023, replacing what had been a recommended practice, according to EC&M. The 2023 edition uses mandatory "shall" language, requires an electrical maintenance program with assigned personnel, procedures and records, and sets maintenance intervals by each piece of equipment's condition, criticality and environment.

New work still needs permits and inspections from the local building department. Ask any bidder who pulls the permit, who schedules the inspection, and whether the bid includes the fees.

Commercial electrician license by state

Most states require electricians to be licensed, the BLS notes, and most electricians learn the trade in a 4 or 5 year apprenticeship. Some states license commercial work separately. In Arizona, the Registrar of Contractors licenses the business: C-11 covers commercial electrical work, R-11 is residential only and CR-11 is both, and a license is needed when labor and materials exceed $1,000 or a permit is required. In California, a CSLB C-10 Electrical Contractor license is needed for jobs of $500 or more, and electricians working for C-10 contractors must hold state certification.

For your state, the electrician license by state table lists the licensing agency, the license classes and the lookup site. Check the license number on that site before work starts, and make sure the name matches the company on the bid.

Commercial electrician near me: what to ask

1. What is your license number and class, and does it cover commercial work in this state? Can you send proof of insurance?
2. Is this priced by the hour or as a fixed bid for the scope?
3. What is your after-hours rate, and can work be scheduled outside business hours to avoid closing?
4. Who pulls the permit and schedules the inspection?
5. For a buildout: is the bid based on the drawings, and how are changes priced?
6. For a service upgrade: who coordinates with the utility?

Calls to the electrician line go to an independent company that serves your area and takes this kind of job; how calls work explains the rest. For home jobs, see electrical repair and lights flickering. Other commercial trades: commercial HVAC repair, commercial plumbing and commercial roof repair. Prices for other jobs are in the home repair costs table.