America's electrician shortage could delay your next home upgrade

Thinking about adding an EV charger, rooftop solar, or a smart panel to your home? The technology is ready, many incentives are still around, and most homeowners know it’s a smart financial investment. But there's a bottleneck standing in the way of nearly every one of these projects: America doesn't have enough electricians.

The country is in the middle of a nationwide electrician shortage, and it's already showing up in longer wait times, higher project costs, and—in the worst cases—unlicensed shortcuts that put homes at risk.

By 2030, the electrical workforce is projected to shrink by 14%, while demand for electricians is expected to climb by as much as 25% over that same stretch. That gap translates into roughly 81,000 electrician job openings every year through 2034, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This isn't just a future problem, either. More than half of U.S. home builders report that finding electricians is one of their most persistent challenges, according to the National Association of Home Builders. 

If demand is outpacing supply, why not just train more electricians? We asked that question to Matt Trout, who has worked 26 years in the trade and is the current president of Trout Electric in California and Nevada. He told us simply: you can’t shortcut electrical training.

“There’s schooling and on-the-job hours that they have to go through. In California, you've got to take a certification test. So, it’s about a five-year process. In [other states] it may be a little shorter than that—three to four years if they have their hours—to become a residential certified electrician,” said Trout.

That five-year runway means many who start an apprenticeship today wouldn’t be fully licensed until 2030—the exact year the shortage is projected to peak. Making matters more complicated, nearly 30% of union electricians are nearing retirement, so the workforce is shrinking from both ends at once.

Part of the problem traces back to a cultural shift: For years, students were pushed toward four-year colleges rather than the trades, leaving a generational gap that the industry is still working to close. The good news is that the sentiment is starting to change.

“That message that has gotten out the last few years has been really strong to our high school students. We see a lot of the younger generation getting into the trades,” said Trout. “The local colleges are reaching out to us, saying, 'Hey, would you like to see our best applicants?' And that's really been our feeding ground for hiring new talent.”

That renewed interest is encouraging, but it’s not enough to keep up with everyday demand for new construction, repairs, and commercial work, let alone the new wave of home electrification.

Home electrification, in practice, means swapping every fossil-fuel-powered appliance in your home for an electric one: a gas furnace becomes a heat pump, a gas water heater goes electric, a gas stove becomes an induction cooktop—you get the picture. Add an EV in the garage, solar panels on the roof, and maybe a home battery to store that solar power, and you've got a house that runs entirely on electricity that your solar panels make.

Americans are already moving in this direction: Heat pumps have been outselling gas furnaces and, more recently, central air conditioners. More than one in 10 new cars sold last year was electric, and solar is on millions of rooftops and counting.

Every one of these upgrades requires a licensed electrician, often before the project can even be scheduled, starting with a load calculation to see what a home's electrical system can handle. An estimated 60% to 70% of single-family homes would need a panel upgrade before they could support full home electrification, unless a skilled electrician can find a workaround using load-management software instead.

“Homeowners are completely unaware of what the possibilities are and what we can do with smart devices now; the ability to control everything with your voice throughout your whole home or to add more [appliances] without doing a panel upgrade because we have some kind of software or load management that we could put in there,” said Trout.

Either way, the job calls for a well-trained electrician right as the workforce is stretched thinnest. Trout said he's had to turn down work simply because he didn't have enough trained staff to keep up with demand.

“We could have taken on a lot more opportunities if I felt like we had a really good team. And if we could go out and hire trained electricians, we would have more confidence in doing the jobs, we could have grown a lot faster, a lot sooner,” he said.

And that’s from a company built around developing new talent, which means plenty of others are likely feeling a tighter squeeze.

When qualified electricians are hard to find, and projects are backed up for weeks, some homeowners look for shortcuts: an unlicensed electrician, or a DIY attempt. It's understandable given the wait times and price tags, but it’s a real risk. Unlicensed or underbid work can lead to improperly wired EV chargers, solar panel systems that don't meet code, and panel upgrades completed without permits.

"My advice to homeowners is to make sure that you hire the right electrical contractor—one that's got good reviews, that's in the space and does this all the time," said Trout.

Given how stretched the workforce is, here are some practical tips for finding your next electrician: 

• Start earlier than you think you need to. Don't wait until an appliance fails or a project is time-sensitive to start looking for an electrician.

• Bundle projects when you can. If you're already bringing a great electrician in for one job, ask what else makes sense to handle while they're on-site—it can save both time and money down the line.

• Look for specialization, not just availability. A general contractor who occasionally handles electrical work is very different from a licensed electrician who works on major home electrification projects every day. Look for someone who's "in the space and does this all the time," as Trout puts it.

Or, if you want an even simpler tip: Go through a service who finds qualified electricians for you. Enter: Qmerit.

Vetting an electrician isn't easy if you're not in the industry—and most homeowners aren't. That's part of why Qmerit, long known for its EV charger installation network, recently launched Home Electrical Services, connecting homeowners with certified electricians for a broader range of projects.

"Our customers want more help from us. They're asking for help with other stuff around the house. So we built Home Electrical Services as an answer to that," said Home Electrical Services General Manager Liz Fraser. "Folks just aren't sure what is good, who is certified, if they're paying the right price.”

Fraser said the model mirrors what's made Qmerit's EV network work: an upfront price, a booked appointment, and no surprises. Today, that can mean anything from a broken outlet to surge protection to EV charging, and Fraser said the goal is to eventually offer electricians who can tackle any job a home might need.

"There are more and more jobs inside your home that need electrification, and there are fewer electricians to do the work. We're helping to bridge that gap and make it really easy for a homeowner who just wants stuff to plug in and work,” she said.

Ready to find a vetted electrician for your home? EnergySage partners with Qmerit to connect homeowners with certified electricians for EV chargers, panel upgrades, and other home electrification projects.