If electrical work is happening at your address in Ontario, odds are it needs an ESA inspection. The Ontario Electrical Safety Code (OESC) treats inspection as the default — not the exception. Here is exactly what triggers an Electrical Safety Authority inspection, what does not, and how the process actually works.
Almost all electrical work in Ontario requires a notification of work (permit), and every notification triggers an ESA inspection. The notification must be filed before, or within 48 hours of, the work starting. The inspection is what produces the Certificate of Acceptance — the paper insurers and buyers ask for.
Anything that adds capacity, changes the circuit, or touches legacy wiring falls back on the baseline rule: notify and inspect.
Whoever filed the notification requests the inspection date. For hired work, that is the Licensed Electrical Contractor (LEC) under their ECRA/ESA licence. Homeowners can only file and request for their own primary residence — not rentals or income properties.
Assume every job needs an ESA inspection unless it is unambiguously a like-for-like swap on modern grounded wiring. Hire an ECRA/ESA Licensed Electrical Contractor, confirm the notification is filed, and keep the Certificate of Acceptance with your home records.
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Almost. Any work that adds, moves, upsizes, or extends wiring or a circuit triggers an ESA notification and inspection. Straight like-for-like device swaps on modern grounded wiring are the main exception.
Before the work starts, or within 48 hours of starting. The person who files the notification is also responsible for requesting the inspection.
It is the document ESA issues after your electrical work passes inspection. Home insurers and real estate lawyers ask for it as proof the work meets the Ontario Electrical Safety Code.
The inspector issues a list of deficiencies that must be corrected. The Licensed Electrical Contractor fixes them, then ESA reinspects. Only after a pass is the Certificate of Acceptance issued.
Yes, only for work in your own primary residence under a homeowner notification. Hired work must go through a Licensed Electrical Contractor, and the LEC handles the inspection request.
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ECRA/ESA-licensed contractor files the notification, meets the inspector, and delivers your Certificate of Acceptance. Call for a free estimate across the GTA.
