Georgetown County, SC Building Safety: Electrical Permits (2026)

Sec. 7-1(1)(h) enacts the National Electric Code, 2020 Edition, with South Carolina modifications, as county ordinance, part of a package of model codes updated roughly every three years under Sec. 7-1's introductory text. Sec. 7-3 amends NEC Section 230.70(a) for the county: the service disconnecting means must be installed at a readily accessible location outside of a building or structure, though an exception allows it inside a one-hour fire-rated enclosure with direct exterior access at ground level. Sec. 7-12(c) requires that electrical wiring not be covered or concealed until the building official has inspected and approved it.

Sec. 7-12(d) then bars connecting or reconnecting any electrical wiring, device, appliance or equipment to a power source without one of five specific authorizations: a construction power permit for a temporary power pole, a mobile home certificate of occupancy, a certificate of occupancy for the finished building, a certificate of compliance (valid ninety days, renewable once, after which power is disconnected if a final certificate of occupancy has not issued), or another certificate the applicable code requires. Because electrical work is also construction work under Sec.

7-10(a), a building permit covering the electrical scope is required before that work begins, layering the general building-permit requirement on top of the connection-authorization rule in Sec. 7-12(d).