Ontario regulates electrical work more tightly than most provinces. The system runs through the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), and understanding it protects you twice: once from unsafe work, and again when you sell your home or file an insurance claim.
What requires an ESA notification
Any work that adds, extends, or modifies wiring requires a notification filed with the ESA before or at the start of the job. That includes panel upgrades and fuse-to-breaker conversions, new circuits for appliances or EV chargers, basement finishing electrical, hot tub and pool wiring, whole-home rewiring, and generator transfer switches.
The narrow exemption covers like-for-like replacement: swapping a broken receptacle, replacing a light fixture, or changing a switch on an existing circuit. The moment wire is added or a circuit is created, the exemption ends.
Who files it and what it costs
In Ontario, electrical work for hire may only be performed by a Licensed Electrical Contractor (LEC) — a business licence issued through ECRA. Your contractor files the notification, the ESA assigns an inspector, and the inspection happens during or after the work. Fees for typical residential jobs run $100–$200 and are normally baked into your quote. When the work passes, you receive a certificate of inspection. Keep it — insurers and home buyers ask for these documents.
Homeowners are legally allowed to do electrical work on their own home, but they must file their own notification and pass the same inspections. For anything beyond a simple fixture swap, we'd genuinely recommend against it — see can I do my own electrical work in Ontario for the full picture.
Why skipping the permit backfires
Insurance is the big one. If an electrical fire traces back to unpermitted work, your insurer can deny the claim outright — we've seen it happen. Real estate is the second: buyers' home inspectors flag amateur wiring instantly, and unpermitted work becomes a negotiating lever against your sale price, or a deal-breaker.
Every job City Power performs includes the ESA notification and inspection — it's part of the quote, never an extra. If you're unsure whether past work in your home was permitted, our electrical safety inspection will identify issues and document what's needed to bring things into compliance. Call 416-837-4038 with any permit question; the advice is free.