Ontario's Plain-English Guide to Custom Home Buildingπ 705-533-1633 | βοΈ 1-866-868-6606 | βοΈ info@icfhome.ca
ESA Permits in Ontario (2026): What Needs a Notification, Who Files It, the Fees, the Inspections and the Certificate of Acceptance
Electrical & Lighting
The ESA Permit: Filed Before the Work, Inspected Before the Drywall, and the One Piece of Paper You Keep
What everybody in Ontario calls the electrical permit is really a notification of work filed with the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). Almost all electrical work needs one, it has to be filed before the work starts, and it is the only road to the Certificate of Acceptance your insurer and your buyer will one day ask about. This page covers who files it, what ESA charges, what gets inspected and when, and what to do when you find out the last owner never bothered.
What ESA actually charges
$253new house up to 200 A, filed by a contractor
$568the same house, filed by a homeowner
beforethe work starts, never after
12 monthsand a residential notification lapses with no inspection
| Work, single dwelling | Filed by a licensed contractor | Filed by a homeowner |
|---|---|---|
| New house, up to 200 A | $253 | $568 |
| New house, 201 to 400 A | $366 | $742 |
| Service change or panel upgrade | $86 ($92 minimum) | $212 |
| EV charger, first piece of equipment | $86 ($92 minimum) | $93 |
| EV charger, each additional related piece | $30 | $33 |
| Renovation, 1 to 10 outlets, no service work | $46 | $64 |
| Renovation, 11 to 30 outlets, no service work | $92 | $143 |
| Record search of an address | $76 with HST | $76 with HST |
Pot lights count as outlets, so a basement with 16 pot lights and 8 receptacles is in the 11 to 30 band. The service change and the EV charger are subject to ESA’s $92 minimum fee when a contractor files. This is the April 1, 2026 guide; check the current one on esasafe.com before you budget.
Why Ontario prices are all over the map: the contractors we checked for this page put “the ESA permit” on their quotes at anywhere from $100 to $600, and ESA’s own fee for a panel change is under $100. The utility line is wider still: Toronto Hydro charges $120 to disconnect and reconnect at the meter in regular hours, and Toronto contractors’ quotes for that same line ran $300 to $1,000. The gap is the contractor’s time to file, meet the inspector and book the utility, which is real work, plus whatever else got folded in. Budget ESA’s fee from the table plus an hour or two of the electrician at $80 to $160 an hour, and get two or three quotes on the same written scope.
Who Files It, and Who Must Never
If you hire someone to do electrical work in Ontario, by law it must be an ESA Licensed Electrical Contractor (LEC), and the LEC files the notification under its own licence. A general contractor is not licensed to do electrical work. Neither is the handyman who did a lovely job on your deck.
A homeowner may do electrical work in their own home or rental building, but must file the notification personally, before starting, and do the work to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code (OESC), 2024 edition, in force since May 1, 2025. ESA charges a homeowner more for the same job, $568 against $253 on a new house, and the inspector holds you to the same code as the pro. If you are building your own house, the owner-builder page covers the rest of what lands on you.
Never take out a notification for someone else. If an electrician, or a cousin who used to be one, asks you to pull the homeowner permit so he can do the work, the answer is no. It makes you responsible for wiring you did not do, and it is one of the oldest dodges going.
On the houses I build and renovate, the electrical is done by the licensed electrical contractors we hire, under their licence and their notification. I am a builder, not an electrician, and I do not file electrical notifications for anybody. The hiring page covers checking the licence.
What Needs One: Almost Everything
ESA’s own words are that almost all electrical work requires a notification. In a house, that includes at least:
- A new house, an addition, a garden suite or a basement finish
- A service change, a panel replacement or a 100 to 200 A upgrade
- New circuits: range, dryer, heat pump, hot tub, EV charger
- A subpanel in a garage, basement or shop
- Pot lights and new receptacles in a renovation
- A standby generator permanently connected to the house wiring, which also needs a transfer device
- Solar and battery systems, after the utility has approved the connection
One narrow exception: an LEC installing an approved plug-in meter-base transfer device under ESA’s conditions does not need a notification (ESA Bulletin 2-33-0, May 2026). The same device installed by a homeowner does. If you are not sure about a job, assume it needs one and ask ESA. The answer costs a phone call; the wrong guess costs an insurance argument.
A building permit is not an electrical notification. A basement finish, an addition or a garden suite usually needs both: the building permit from the municipality and the ESA notification from whoever does the wiring. The building permit page covers the municipal side.
The Inspections and the Certificate
Any job with open walls gets a rough-in inspection. Nothing is concealed by insulation, drywall or flooring until an inspector authorizes it. That is ESA’s rule, so do not book the insulation crew until the electrician has told you the rough-in passed.
The final comes when the devices, fixtures and panel are done. When the work passes, ESA issues a Certificate of Acceptance to whoever filed the notification. Only ESA issues it. Ask the electrician for a copy, keep it with the house papers, and if it goes missing ESA will send one (1-877-372-7233). It is the paper your insurer and your buyer’s lawyer want.
A service change has one more step. The utility will not reconnect until it receives ESA’s connection authorization, so a panel swap that fails inspection at 3 p.m. is a house without power at supper. Hydro One also wants an ESA inspection if the service has been off six months or more, which catches people who buy a cottage that sat empty for a year.
A residential notification lapses after 12 months with no inspection. A job that stalls in the fall should get its inspection booked, not forgotten. The inspection checklist lists what to look at before each visit.
Work That Was Never Permitted
Sooner or later you find it: a basement full of pot lights, a hot tub circuit, a garage subpanel, and no paperwork. Here is the order I would go in.
- Ask ESA what is on file. A Record Search shows open or outstanding notifications at the address, with about a 48-hour turnaround, for $76 including HST. An access-to-information request is broader, including ESA’s notes and correspondence, takes about 15 business days and costs the same $76.
- Have an LEC look at it. An electrical safety inspection with a written report runs $250 to $450.
- Have the LEC file a notification and fix what needs fixing. The inspector may need to see wiring that is now behind drywall, so budget for some holes and some patching.
- Keep the Certificate of Acceptance. That turns an unknown into a known for the insurer.
- Buying a house? Do the record search while you still have a condition to lean on, not after closing.
The safety and hiring guide links the rest of this section, including the old-wiring page.
Questions people ask
Who pulls the ESA permit, me or the electrician?
The person doing the work. If you hire a Licensed Electrical Contractor, the LEC files the notification. If you do the work yourself in your own home, you file it, before you start. Never file one for work somebody else is doing.
How much does an ESA permit cost in Ontario?
Under the 2026 Fee Guide, a new house up to 200 A is $253 filed by a contractor or $568 by a homeowner. A panel or service change is $86 for a contractor, subject to the $92 minimum, or $212 for a homeowner. Contractors often charge $100 to $600 for “the permit” because their time to file and meet the inspector is in it.
Can a homeowner do their own electrical work in Ontario?
Yes, in their own home or rental building, if they file the notification themselves before starting, do the work to the code and pass inspection. Anyone you hire must be a Licensed Electrical Contractor.
Is a building permit the same as an ESA permit?
No. The building permit comes from the municipality and covers the building. The ESA notification covers the wiring. Many jobs need both.
How do I find out if electrical work in a house was permitted?
Order an ESA Record Search for the address: about 48 hours, $76 including HST, and it shows open or outstanding notifications. For notes and correspondence, an access-to-information request takes about 15 business days, also $76.
Price the job before you price the permit
The permit is the small line. The whole-house electrical cost calculator prices a new house or a rewire by the square foot with the add-ons, so you know what the big line should be. If you already have quotes, the $99 review reads up to three of them and checks that each one names the notification and who files it.
Sources and further reading
- ESA notifications and inspections: when a notification of work is needed, who files it, and the rule that nothing is covered until an inspector authorizes it.
- ESA 2026 Fee Guide: the actual ESA fees for a new house, a service change, an EV charger and renovation work, contractor and homeowner rates.
- Electrical Safety Authority: homeowners: who may do electrical work in Ontario, why a hired electrician must be a Licensed Electrical Contractor, and what the Certificate of Acceptance is for.
