In NSW the line is legal, not skill-based: a standard electrician's authority stops at your meter, while a Level 2 Accredited Service Provider can work on everything between the street and your switchboard.
A standard licensed electrician ($80–$100/hr) handles everything past your meter — circuits, powerpoints, lights, and most switchboard internals. A Level 2 ASP ($150–$200/hr) is additionally accredited by the network to work on service mains, the point of attachment, metering and consumer mains — work a standard electrician legally cannot touch. If your job involves the wires from the street, a disconnection, the meter, or a defect notice, you need Level 2. We're Grade A accredited with both Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy, so no second contractor is needed.
| Factor | Standard Electrician | Level 2 ASP |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | $80–$100 | $150–$200 |
| Legal scope | Everything past the meter — your circuits, lights, powerpoints, board internals | All of that, plus service mains, point of attachment, metering and consumer mains |
| Can disconnect supply at the network | No | Yes — and reconnect and certify it |
| Defect notices | Cannot rectify network-side items | Rectifies and certifies with Ausgrid / Endeavour |
| Typical jobs | New circuits, fault finding, lighting, GPOs, safety switches | Private poles, new connections, three-phase upgrades, storm make-safes, meter work |
| Accreditation | NSW Fair Trading electrician's licence | Licence + ASP accreditation — Grade A covers all classes 2A 2B 2C 2D |
Switchboard upgrades are the classic example: the board internals are standard-electrician territory, but if the supply has to come off at the network, the mains are undersized, or the meter moves, a Level 2 ASP must do that portion. Hiring a standard sparky first often means the job stops on the day and a second contractor gets called — at your expense. A Grade A ASP can do the entire job solo, which is usually cheaper than two trades and two visits. See real prices in our 2026 cost guide.
Anyone can put Level 2 on a van. Genuine ASPs hold current accreditation with the distributor for your area — Ausgrid for eastern and northern Sydney, Endeavour for the west — and are verifiable on the public ASP registers. We're formally listed on both, Grade A, all four classes.
Work on the network side of your connection: the service line from the street, the point of attachment, the meter, and the consumer mains — including disconnecting and reconnecting supply and certifying the work with the distributor.
Level 2 accreditation comes in grades. Grade A is the highest — authorised to work on or near live mains and covering all four classes of work — which matters for storm make-safes and jobs where a full network shutdown isn't practical.
For network-side work there's no choice — it's a legal requirement. For combined jobs, one Grade A crew doing everything in a single visit usually beats paying a standard electrician plus a Level 2 sub-contractor.
Describe the job — if it's standard-electrician work, we'll say so. If it's Level 2, you'll get a fixed upfront quote from a Grade A ASP.