The Canadian Electrical Code gets updated every three years, and each new edition eventually works its way into provincial law. New Brunswick made it official on March 15, 2026, when NB Regulation 2026-5 came into force under the Electrical Installation and Inspection Act. The 2021 edition (25th edition) is now replaced by the 2024 edition (26th edition, CSA C22.1-24). If you’re planning any electrical work, the new rules apply right now, whether it’s in a commercial or residential context.
The good news for most homeowners and business owners is that you don’t need to tear anything apart. Existing installations are generally left alone. What changes is any new permitted work going forward. Here are the updates most likely to affect you:
Outlet Placement in Homes: New Brunswick’s Own Rules
One of the things people often don’t realize is that provinces aren’t just adopting the national code wholesale. They add their own amendments. New Brunswick’s 2024 adoption includes a provincially-specific rule on where electrical outlets must be placed in residential spaces, and the details matter if you’re renovating, finishing a basement, or building new.
The core rule is the 1.8-metre spacing requirement: in every finished room, outlets must be positioned so that no point along the floor line of usable wall space is more than 1.8 metres horizontally from a receptacle. In practical terms, this means you should be able to plug in a lamp or appliance anywhere along a wall without needing an extension cord.
A few specific requirements stand out:
Kitchens get the most attention. The code requires at least one dedicated outlet for the refrigerator, and a sufficient number of outlets along counter work surfaces so that no point is more than 900 mm from a receptacle. Permanently fixed island counters measuring 600 mm or more in length require at least one outlet, as do peninsular counter spaces of the same minimum size. If you have a gas range, there must be an outlet behind its intended location, positioned no more than 130 mm from the floor and as close to the midpoint of that wall space as possible.
Hallways inside a dwelling also have their own rule: no point in a hallway can be more than 4.5 metres from a duplex receptacle, measured along the shortest path a cord would travel without passing through a doorway. This one comes up regularly in older homes where hallway wiring was an afterthought.
Balconies and porches need at least one outlet, even when they’re not classified as finished rooms.
None of this requires you to retrofit an older home, but if you’re doing permitted renovation work in any of these spaces, the new placement rules apply to that work.
Panel Labelling Is Now Retroactive
This is one of the most unusual changes in the 2024 code: most code rules only govern new work, but this one applies to your existing panel. Whenever an electrician makes any change to your panel, whether that’s adding a circuit, removing one, or swapping a breaker, they’re now required to ensure that every circuit in the entire panel is properly labelled. Not just the new work – everything. If your panel has old, faded stickers, handwritten notes that no longer match the circuits, or no labels at all, any permitted modification now triggers a full labelling update.
The reason is straightforward: an unlabelled or incorrectly labelled panel is a genuine hazard. Electricians working on your system, firefighters responding to an emergency, and the next owner of your property all depend on knowing exactly what each breaker controls. When we don’t know, we either waste time tracing circuits or, worse, make assumptions that lead to accidents.
In practical terms, if you call us to add a circuit for a new appliance or EV charger, we’re going to spend time labelling the whole panel properly as part of the job. It’s a legal requirement under the code, and it leaves you with a panel that’s genuinely safer and easier to work with.
Electric Vehicle Charging Gets Smarter
EV chargers draw a significant amount of power. A standard Level 2 home charger typically pulls around 7,200 watts, which is by far the single biggest power draw any residence will have. Under the old code, each charger had to be counted at full demand when calculating whether a panel could handle the load, which often triggered expensive service upgrades before anyone could install a charger at all.
The 2024 code formally recognizes electric vehicle energy management systems, or EVEMS. These are systems that intelligently manage charging, preventing multiple chargers from drawing full power simultaneously. When an EVEMS is part of the installation, the additional EV demand can be excluded from load calculations, because the system itself ensures the panel won’t be overloaded.
For homeowners, this can be the difference between a relatively straightforward charger installation and a full service upgrade costing several thousand dollars. If you’re considering adding EV charging and your panel is anywhere near capacity, it’s worth having that conversation with us before assuming the worst. The right design might let you get what you need without the bigger project.
Solar and Battery Storage: Fewer Barriers
The previous code was fairly restrictive about battery storage systems inside homes. Lithium-ion batteries, the kind used in products like the Tesla Powerwall, faced significant limitations on where they could be installed in a residential building. The 2024 code removes those restrictions, making it genuinely more practical to pair solar panels with home battery storage.
The code also updates the rules for solar panel installations more broadly. New rapid shutdown requirements make it possible to quickly de-energize a solar array in an emergency, which matters most for firefighters working on or near a structure with solar installed. There are also updated requirements for where inverters and disconnecting equipment are placed, which can actually simplify the overall installation in some cases.
If you’ve been thinking about solar or battery backup and the previous restrictions were part of what held you back, the 2024 code removes some of those hurdles.
What This Means for Projects You’re Planning Now
The March 15, 2026 in-force date means the new rules apply to all permitted work right now. There’s no grace period to wait out.
For homeowners, the most immediate implications are around kitchen and basement renovations, EV charger installations, and any panel work. For business owners, the panel labelling change is particularly relevant: commercial panels often have years of accumulated additions and are rarely labelled to the standard the code now requires. Any permitted modification will bring that requirement to the surface.
If you’re planning work in the coming months, the best thing you can do is get in touch with us before pulling a permit. Understanding how the 2024 code affects the scope of your project upfront avoids surprises and keeps the job on budget.
