- Total Cost Overview: What TX-ME Actually Costs in 2026
- TDLR and PSI Fees Explained
- Hidden Costs Before You Ever Sit the Exam
- Retake Costs and Why the Split-Portion Structure Matters
- Renewal Costs and Ongoing Licensing Expenses
- Cost Comparison: First-Attempt vs. Retake Scenarios
- Reducing Retake Risk by Domain
- Budgeting Your Prep Timeline Around the Fees
- Frequently Asked Questions
- TDLR charges a $45 application fee; PSI charges $78 to sit both portions or $78 to retake one or both.
- Each portion - NEC Knowledge and Calculations - is scored separately at 70%, so a partial retake still costs $78.
- Eligibility requires 12,000 supervised hours and two years holding a Journeyman Electrician license before TDLR approval.
- License renewal is $45 annually plus four TDLR-approved continuing education hours per cycle.
Total Cost Overview: What TX-ME Actually Costs in 2026
When candidates search for the "cost" of the Texas Master Electrician License Exam (TX-ME), they're usually picturing a single number. In reality, the total investment is built from several separate line items administered by two different organizations: the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), which owns the license, and PSI, which delivers the exam itself. Understanding how these fees stack - and what happens financially if you don't pass both portions on the first try - is the difference between budgeting accurately and being surprised at the testing center.
This breakdown covers every fee currently documented for TX-ME candidates: the application fee, the testing fee, the retake fee, and the renewal cost once you're licensed. It does not include prep-course pricing, since that varies by provider, but it does include everything TDLR and PSI charge directly.
TDLR and PSI Fees Explained
TDLR and PSI split the process into two financial transactions, and it's important not to confuse them:
- TDLR license application fee: $45. This is paid to TDLR when you submit your application for approval to test. TDLR reviews your supervised-hours documentation and your Journeyman Electrician license history before clearing you to schedule an exam date.
- PSI testing fee: $78. This single fee covers sitting both portions of the exam - NEC Knowledge and Calculations - in one scheduled appointment.
- PSI retake fee: $78. If you fail one portion, both portions, or need to reschedule after a failed attempt, the retake fee is again $78, whether you're retaking one portion or both.
Because the exam is split into two separately timed, separately passed portions, it's entirely possible to pass NEC Knowledge on your first attempt and still owe another $78 to retest only Calculations - or vice versa. This structure rewards candidates who prepare deliberately for each portion rather than treating the 108 total questions as one undifferentiated pool. For a full breakdown of how the two portions are scored and weighted, see the TX-ME Passing Score 2026 guide.
Key Takeaway
Because retake fees apply per attempt regardless of how many portions you retest, there is no financial advantage to "just seeing what happens" on a portion you haven't studied. Prepare both portions to standard before your first scheduled date.
Hidden Costs Before You Ever Sit the Exam
The $45 and $78 fees are the visible costs, but TX-ME eligibility carries structural prerequisites that function as real, non-negotiable investments of time and career planning:
- 12,000 supervised on-the-job hours under a Texas-licensed Master Electrician, verified by that supervising master.
- A Journeyman Electrician license held for at least two years. Note that a Journeyman Industrial license does not satisfy this requirement - a distinction that trips up candidates who assume any journeyman-level credential qualifies.
- TDLR approval before testing. You cannot schedule a PSI appointment until TDLR has reviewed and approved your application.
- A one-year completion window. Once TDLR receives your application, all licensing requirements must be finished within one year, adding time pressure to the financial equation.
None of these carry a direct dollar figure from TDLR, but they represent years of career positioning that precede the $45 application fee. For the full eligibility checklist, see TX-ME Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Retake Costs and Why the Split-Portion Structure Matters
TX-ME's 108 questions are divided into two administered sections with different question counts, timing, and scoring thresholds:
NEC Knowledge Portion
75 administered questions (70 scored, 5 unscored) in 150 minutes. Covers Domains 1-10, from Definitions, Theory, and Plans through Renewable Energy Technologies.
- Requires 70% to pass, scored independently of Calculations
Calculations Portion
33 administered questions (30 scored, 3 unscored) in 170 minutes. Covers Domains 11-20, the calculation-based counterparts to the same subject areas.
- Also requires 70% to pass, on its own
Combined testing time is 320 minutes, and unused time from one portion cannot transfer to the other - meaning pacing discipline directly protects your $78 investment. Fail either portion and you'll pay the $78 retake fee again, even if the other portion was passed cleanly.
TDLR's official FY2025 results show pass rates of 22.21% for Master NEC (771 passes among 3,472 completed exams) and 19.08% for Master Calculations (753 passes among 3,946 completed exams). These are historical, portion-level figures that predate the 2026 code transition and aren't first-attempt or combined-candidate rates, but they underscore that retakes are common enough to budget for rather than treat as an unlikely edge case. A deeper statistical look is available in TX-ME Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
Key Takeaway
Since both portions historically show pass rates well under half, treat the $78 retake fee as a realistic contingency in your budget - not a worst-case scenario.
Renewal Costs and Ongoing Licensing Expenses
Passing both portions and receiving your license isn't the end of the cost picture. The individual Master Electrician license is valid for one year and renews for $45. Each renewal cycle also requires four TDLR-approved continuing education hours covering:
- The National Electrical Code (NEC)
- Texas electrical law and rules
- NFPA 70E electrical safety
Note that the individual Master Electrician license is distinct from the separate Electrical Contractor business license - if you plan to operate as a contracting business, that credential carries its own separate application and fee structure not covered by the $45 individual renewal.
Cost Comparison: First-Attempt vs. Retake Scenarios
Here's how total spend changes depending on how many attempts it takes to clear both portions:
| Scenario | TDLR Application | PSI Testing Fee(s) | Total Exam-Related Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass both portions on first sitting | $45 | $78 | $123 |
| Pass one portion, retake the other once | $45 | $78 + $78 | $201 |
| Fail both portions, retake both once | $45 | $78 + $78 | $201 |
| Fail both portions, retake both twice | $45 | $78 + $78 + $78 | $279 |
Add the $45 annual renewal in year one and the true first-year cost of licensure ranges from roughly $168 for a clean pass to well over $300 for candidates who need multiple retakes. This is why disciplined portion-specific preparation isn't just an academic concern - it's a direct financial decision. The TX-ME Study Guide 2026 lays out a structured approach to minimizing retake risk across both portions.
Reducing Retake Risk by Domain
Because retakes cost real money, it's worth knowing exactly where the scored questions concentrate. In the NEC Knowledge portion (Domains 1-10, 70 scored questions), Services and Branch Circuit Conductors are jointly the largest content areas at 11 scored questions each, followed by Electrical Wiring Methods and Materials and Special Occupancies at 8 each. In the Calculations portion (Domains 11-20, 30 scored questions), Services is the single largest area at 8 scored questions, well ahead of any other calculation topic.
Highest-Leverage Domains
Candidates with limited study time should prioritize these areas first, since they carry the most scored weight relative to other domains.
- Domain 2 / Domain 12 - Electrical Services, Service Equipment, and Separately Derived Systems
- Domain 4 - Branch Circuit Conductors
- Domain 5 - Electrical Wiring Methods and Electrical Materials
- Domain 9 - Special Occupancies, Equipment, and Conditions
A full domain-by-domain breakdown, including every scored-question allocation across all 20 domains, is covered in TX-ME Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 20 Content Areas. Understanding where the questions live is one of the clearest ways to avoid paying a second $78 fee.
Budgeting Your Prep Timeline Around the Fees
Since the retake fee applies per scheduled attempt, the most cost-effective strategy is front-loading preparation on the heavier-weighted domains before scheduling. A simple way to structure the final weeks before your PSI appointment:
NEC Knowledge Heavy Domains
- Focus on Domain 2 (Services/Service Equipment) and Domain 4 (Branch Circuit Conductors) - the two largest scored areas at 11 questions each
- Practice locating code sections quickly in your approved softbound NEC
Remaining NEC Knowledge Domains
- Cover Domains 5, 6, 9 and the remaining lighter-weighted NEC Knowledge domains
- Time full-length question sets to the 150-minute limit
Calculations Portion
- Prioritize Domain 12 (Services) at 8 scored questions, the largest single Calculations area
- Drill the remaining Calculations domains against the 170-minute time limit
Pacing rehearsal matters because unused time cannot carry over between the two portions - running long on NEC Knowledge won't buy you extra minutes on Calculations. Practicing under realistic timed conditions on our TX-ME practice test platform before you spend the $78 testing fee is one of the more direct ways to protect that investment. For a broader look at what makes the exam genuinely difficult beyond the fee structure, see How Hard Is the TX-ME Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
Key Takeaway
Run at least one full-length, timed practice attempt for each portion separately before scheduling with PSI - it's far cheaper than discovering pacing problems on exam day.
If you're still early in the process and want a condensed reference of every fee, timing detail, and domain weight in one place, the TX-ME Cheat Sheet 2026 consolidates the numbers covered here alongside the content breakdown. And if you're evaluating whether the total investment - application fee, testing fee, potential retakes, and renewal - pays off relative to career outcomes, that analysis is covered separately in Is the TX-ME Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Expect $45 for the TDLR license application and $78 for the PSI fee to take both portions in one sitting, for a baseline of $123 before any retakes.
No. The PSI retake fee is $78 whether you are retaking one portion or both, so it's worth ensuring both portions are exam-ready before your first scheduled attempt.
Yes. The individual Master Electrician license is valid for one year and renews for $45, along with completing four TDLR-approved continuing education hours covering NEC, Texas law and rules, and NFPA 70E safety.
No. TDLR specifies that a Journeyman Industrial license does not satisfy the two-year Journeyman Electrician license requirement, so candidates relying on that path should confirm their license type qualifies before applying.
No. The individual Master Electrician license is distinct from the separate Electrical Contractor business license, which carries its own separate application and fee process not covered in this breakdown.