Chicagoland — Checking an Installer Before You Sign
How to Verify a Generator Installer's License in Chicagoland
There is no Illinoisstate electrician’s license to look up. In this metro the register that decides whether your installer may legally pull your generator permit is held by your own village or city — a different office for every town on this page.
Key takeaways
What a homeowner here needs to know before asking an installer for credentials.
- Illinois does not license electricians at state level. The trade is licensed and registered municipally, so there is no single statewide database to search and an IDFPR number is not the document to ask for.
- The register that matters is your own municipality’s. Registration does not travel. Several suburbs here require a contractor to be registered with them specifically before that contractor can apply for the generator and electrical permits your job needs.
- Not every village keeps such a register. Downers Grove retired its own electrical contractor licence at the end of 2015. Where a town has no licence, asking for one proves nothing — the permit record and the insurance certificate are what remain.
- The check itself is a phone call, and it is yours to make. Each authority below publishes where to ask. This site is a publisher, not a licensing body: it does not verify, vet or endorse any contractor, and it holds no contractor records.
Why “are you licensed?” is the wrong question here
In most states the answer to that question is a number you can type into one state database. Illinoisis not one of them: it issues no statewide electrician’s licence, and the trade is licensed at local level instead. What that means in practice is that “licensed and insured” on a truck door is not a claim you can check anywhere central — and that two installers can both be telling the truth while only one of them may lawfully pull a permit at your address.
So the useful question is narrower: registered with whom?The nine municipalities this site covers each answer that differently, and the table below is the answer for each of them, read from the municipality’s own published guidance.
What this page is not
This is a directory of registering authorities, not of contractors. No installer is named, rated, recommended or described here, and nothing on this page asserts that any particular company is registered anywhere. Chicagoland Generator Pros is a publisher. It does not license, vet, inspect, insure, warrant or endorse contractors, and it holds no contractor credential records. Requirements and fees change; confirm anything material with the authority itself before you rely on it.
Who registers electrical contractors, by municipality
One row per municipality with a city guide on this site. Each row links to the page it was read from, so you can check it rather than take it on trust. Where a municipality’s electrical-specific requirement was not established, the row says so instead of filling in a plausible answer.
| Municipality | Office that holds the register | What it publishes | Ask | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naperville | City of Naperville — Electrical Contractor Registration | Electricians working in Naperville must be registered with the City as an Electrical Contractor. The City states that registration status of a Naperville professional can be confirmed by contacting the department. | (630) 305-5300 | naperville.il.us |
| Aurora | City of Aurora — Division of Building and Permits (Development Services) | Aurora issues its own commercial and residential electrical contractor licences, renewed annually. It grants them on the strength of a licence from another Illinois municipality with equivalent testing, so an installer may hold an Aurora licence without having tested in Aurora. | (630) 256-3130 | aurora.il.us |
| Wheaton | City of Wheaton — Building Department | Wheaton requires electrical contractors to register with the City, submitting a copy of their electrical licence with the registration application. | (630) 260-2050 | wheaton.il.us |
| Downers Grove | Village of Downers Grove — Community Development | The Village eliminated its own electrical contractor licence effective 31 December 2015. A Downers Grove electrical licence is therefore not something to ask for; contractors are instead named on the permit application. | (630) 434-5515 | downers.us |
| Oak Brook | Village of Oak Brook — Contractors / Permits & Licensing | unknown — not established from the Village’s published guidance | see source | oak-brook.org |
| Hinsdale | Village of Hinsdale — Community Development | Hinsdale requires contractor registration with a fee set by the Village, and its published registration guidance requires electrical contractors to supply a copy of their licence. | see source | villageofhinsdale.org |
| Elmhurst | City of Elmhurst — Community Development | Contractors working in Elmhurst must be registered with the City, and Elmhurst issues its own electrical contractor registration. | (630) 530-3030 | elmhurst.org |
| Bolingbrook | Village of Bolingbrook — Building Division | Village code requires an electrical contractor to be licensed and to hold a current contractor registration before performing electrical work, renewed annually and backed by a surety bond filed with the Village. | (630) 226-8470 | bolingbrook.gov |
| Plainfield | Village of Plainfield — Building & Code Enforcement | Plainfield requires contractors to file a licence-and-permit bond with the Building Department before working in the Village. | see source | plainfieldil.gov |
Compiled 2026-08-18 from each municipality’s own published guidance, linked per row. Telephone numbers appear only where the authority publishes one. Unincorporated addresses are permitted by the county rather than a municipality — see the permits guide.
Four questions that settle it, in order
Are you registered as an electrical contractor with MY village or city — not a neighbouring one?
Registration is per-municipality here. A contractor properly registered in Wheaton has no standing in Elmhurst until Elmhurst registers them, and the office that issues your permit is the office that checks.
What name is that registration held under, and does it match the name on my quote?
A registration held by a parent company, a former trading name, or the electrician personally rather than the firm is the common reason a permit application stalls after a deposit has been paid.
Will you be pulling the generator and electrical permits yourself?
In most jurisdictions here the licensed installer pulls them and a homeowner cannot. An installer who asks you to pull the permit is asking you to carry a liability that should be theirs.
Can I have the registration number so I can confirm it with the village myself?
The verification is a phone call you can make in two minutes. A contractor who will not give you the number to make it has answered the question a different way.
These sit alongside the commercial checks rather than replacing them. Once you know an installer may lawfully do the work, the remaining question is whether the price is fair, which is the job of the quote comparison guide — and the fee your municipality charges is in the permits and utility guide.
Common questions
- Does Illinois issue a state electrician's license I can look up?
- No. Illinois does not license electricians at state level — the trade is licensed and registered by municipalities. That is why an installer who offers you an IDFPR number for electrical work is offering you the wrong document, and why the check that matters is with the town your home is in.
- My installer is licensed in the next town over. Is that enough?
- Not on its own. Registration is per-municipality, and several suburbs here require a contractor to be registered with them specifically before they can apply for a permit. Some towns will accept a licence issued elsewhere in Illinois as the basis for registering locally, but the local registration still has to exist.
- What if my village does not license electrical contractors at all?
- Then there is no local licence to check, and asking for one will only produce confusion. Downers Grove is the documented case here: the Village dropped its own electrical contractor licence at the end of 2015. Where that is true, the checks that still work are the permit itself, proof of general liability insurance, and the registration record of whichever jurisdiction issues the permit.
- Does Chicagoland Generator Pros verify installers' licenses?
- No. This site is a publisher, not a licensing body, a vetting service or a contractor. It does not hold, check or warrant any contractor’s registration, insurance or credentials, and nothing here should be read as endorsement or as evidence that any particular company is registered anywhere. The registers named on this page are the authoritative source, and the check is yours to make.
Ready to ask an installer these questions?
Tell us about your home and we collect the details an installer needs to quote the job. We do not license, vet, insure or endorse installers, and confirming an installer’s registration stays your check to make — with the authority for your own municipality, above.