CEA revises qualification and experience rules for Chartered Electrical Safety Engineers

CEA has issued revised guidelines on who can be authorised as a Chartered Electrical Safety Engineer (CESE), the private engineers states use to test and certify electrical installations. They replace earlier guidelines and add a mandatory training and certification programme to bring competency to one standard across states.

What changes

1. Eligibility: an electrical engineering degree with at least 5 years' experience in building, running or maintaining electrical installations, or a diploma with at least 10 years, plus knowledge of the Electricity Act and CEA safety regulations.
2. Applicants must pass a test or interview run by the state's electrical inspectorate; each state decides how it is held.
3. New CESEs must complete a training and certification programme within two years, and existing CESEs within three years, of CEA issuing the structured programme, which CEA is to publish within two months.
4. Authorisation runs for five years, extendable two years at a time, and ends automatically at age 65; retired Chief Electrical Inspectors and Electrical Inspectors may be designated directly.
5. CESEs must hold basic testing and safety equipment calibrated by a government-authorised or NABL-accredited lab; fees for testing are left to each state.
6. The guidelines take effect on issue and supersede the earlier CESE guidelines.

Who is affected

Chartered Electrical Safety Engineers · State electrical inspectorates · State/UT power departments · Electrical contractors · Building and installation owners

Watch for CEA's structured training and certification programme, due within two months of these guidelines; the two- and three-year certification clocks start from that date.

Sources

• CEA guidelines on CESE qualification and experience, 12 Nov 2026 (official PDF)OFFICIAL

Last checked 14 November 2026. Summary for information; rely on the official gazette text.