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INElectrical Contracting Award Pay Calculator
Work out what a week under the Electrical Contracting Award actually pays — the right worker grade, the all-purpose licence and industry allowances, weekend overtime rates, casual loading and super, calculated the way the award says.
How the Electrical Contracting Award is applied
- Minimum rates are set per worker grade — the calculator uses the adult rates from clause 16.2, current from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
- The all-purpose allowances are the trap: the industry allowance ($41.41/week) plus, where they apply, tool ($22.31), electrician’s licence ($40.29), leading hand and nominee allowances all fold into the ordinary hourly rate before every penalty and overtime multiplier. The calculator uses the bare minimums; add the allowances for compliance-grade numbers.
- Casuals get a 25% loading — and under this award it multiplies rather than adds, so casual overtime reads 187.5% and 250%, a casual Sunday 250%, and a casual public holiday 312.5%.
- Saturday is overtime for day workers (ordinary hours sit between 6am and 6pm, Monday to Friday), with a 4-hour minimum payment for weekend overtime.
- Overtime steps at 2 hours, not 3: 150% for the first 2 hours beyond ordinary time, then 200%.
- Superannuation (12%) applies to ordinary-time earnings, including the all-purpose allowances — but not to overtime, which covers most weekend work under this award.
Who the award covers
- Electrical contractors installing electric light and power — wiring, assembly, repair and maintenance of electrical installations
- Maintenance of electric power distribution lines and associated work
- Electronics and communications work — fire and security alarms, TV and radio, computers, telemetry, fibre optics and public address
- Electrically operated refrigeration and air-conditioning plant
- Instrumentation and all work incidental to electrical services
- On-hire employees and group training apprentices placed with electrical contractors
This is an award for contracting businesses. In-house electrical maintenance in a factory sits under the Manufacturing Award, general on-site construction under the Building and Construction Award, and manufacturers or vendors of power-station plant are expressly excluded — check before you classify.
Which level is your team member?
The Electrical Contracting Award has one ladder of ten grades, and one clean dividing line: grades 1–4 are non-trade and must not do a tradesperson’s work, while grade 5 — the licensed tradesperson with a trade certificate or Cert III — is the entry to the trade grades and the award’s standard rate. The grade is set by qualification and skill, not by which of the five skill streams (electrical, electronics/communications, instrumentation, refrigeration/air-conditioning, lines) the person works in.
| Level | Per hour | Per week (38h) | Typical roles | The test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 | $26.44 | $1004.90 | Labourer | The entry level: labouring work not otherwise provided for in the award — no trade tasks. |
| Grade 2 | $26.66 | $1013.10 | Trades assistant · Lines assistant · Cable jointer’s mate | Assists a tradesperson: cuts materials to length, paints cable trays, chases walls as marked — the assistance must never be the work of a tradesperson. |
| Grade 3 | $27.55 | $1046.90 | Storeworker · Driver/plant operator · Alarm equipment tester | Works under direction: storework, driving the employer’s vehicles, inspecting and testing fire or security alarms, or supervised installation of communications and data cabling. |
| Grade 4 | $28.44 | $1080.60 | Electronic equipment installer level 2 · Store-in-charge · Accredited scaffolder/rigger | A year or more in the industry plus accreditation or minimum-supervision installation and testing work — still non-trade, no tradesperson’s tasks. |
| Grade 5 | $29.45 | $1119.10 | Licensed electrician · Electrical fitter/mechanic · Refrigeration mechanic · Linesperson | The tradesperson entry grade: a trade certificate or AQF Certificate III in Electrotechnology (or equivalent) in any of the five streams. The award’s “standard rate”. |
| Grade 6 | $30.38 | $1154.30 | Tradesperson level 2 | Grade 5 plus 3 post-trade modules (or a third of the grade 7 qualification) and at least a year’s experience as a grade 5, employed to use those skills. |
| Grade 7 | $32.13 | $1221.10 | Electrician special class | A Post Trade Certificate or 9 modules towards an Advanced Certificate/AQF Diploma (or Cert IV) — or the same standard via at least 2 years’ experience. |
| Grade 8 | $33.77 | $1283.10 | Advanced tradesperson level 1 | The grade 7 qualification plus not less than 2 years’ experience working as a grade 7. |
| Grade 9 | $34.46 | $1309.50 | Advanced tradesperson level 2 | A completed Advanced Certificate or AQF Diploma in Electrotechnology, employed to use those skills. |
| Grade 10 | $37.24 | $1415.00 | Advanced tradesperson level 3 | The top grade: an Associate Diploma or AQF Advanced Diploma (or formal equivalent), employed to use those skills. |
- Grades 1–4 are strictly non-trade: a trades assistant who starts doing tradesperson’s work is misclassified, whatever the position description says.
- Grade 5 is the benchmark — trade certificate or AQF Certificate III in Electrotechnology — and it is where the tool allowance starts and every wage-related allowance is measured from.
- The stream doesn’t change the money: a refrigeration mechanic, a linesperson and an electrician at the same grade earn the same minimum.
- Apprentices sit on their own scale — percentages of the grade 5 rate (50–82% by year and Year 12 status), plus the full tool and fares allowances.
Allowances that can apply on top
Base rates and penalties aren’t the whole pay picture. The Electrical Contracting Award adds allowances for particular duties and situations — being the designated first aid officer, working overtime without notice, using your own car. They’re small lines individually, but they’re legal entitlements and they add up. The common ones (1 July 2026 amounts):
The calculator below doesn’t include allowances — add the ones that apply to your team on top of the result. The full list lives in the award’s allowances clause.
Break entitlements under the Electrical Contracting Award
Breaks are part of the award too — and missed or worked-through breaks usually carry a penalty rate, so they belong in the roster, not just the tea room. Here’s what the Electrical Contracting Award requires:
From the award’s breaks clauses (clauses 13–14). Verify the current award text before relying on it.
Calculate a week under the Electrical Contracting Award
Enter the week as it’s actually rostered. Weekend, evening and public-holiday hours are paid at the award’s penalty rates; anything beyond 38 hours is priced as overtime; super is applied to ordinary-time earnings only.
Rates current as of 1 July 2026 (adult minimums, MA000025) — first full pay period on or after that date.
This week’s numbers
Nothing is stored or sent — the maths runs on this page.
Are these the exact legal rates?
The grade minimums are the adult rates from clause 16.2, current at 1 July 2026 — but under this award the legal ordinary rate also includes any all-purpose allowances (industry, tool, licence, leading hand, nominee), apprentices have their own percentage scale, and shiftworkers a separate penalty table. Treat the result as a planning number and confirm against the award or your payroll adviser.
Why is a casual’s Saturday 187.5% and not 175%?
Because the 25% casual loading is added to the ordinary rate before the overtime multiplier is applied: 150% × 125% = 187.5%. The same logic makes casual double time 250% and a casual public holiday 312.5%. Adding 25 points instead of multiplying is a common — and expensive — payroll error under this award.
Which allowances change the overtime rate?
The all-purpose ones: industry ($41.41/week, near-universal on-site), tool, electrician’s licence, leading hand and nominee allowances all become part of the ordinary hourly rate itself — so every penalty and overtime hour is a percentage of the loaded rate, not the bare minimum.
Does super apply to weekend rates?
Only on ordinary-time earnings — and for day workers under this award, weekend work is overtime, so the 12% super guarantee generally doesn’t apply to it. Super does apply to ordinary weekday hours including the all-purpose allowances. The calculator applies exactly that split.
What about portable long service leave?
Electrical contractors doing construction-site work sit inside the same portable long service leave schemes as the broader building industry — every state and territory runs one. It’s levied on the value of the building work, not wages (for example, NSW charges 0.25% and Queensland 0.575% of project cost, usually paid by the builder or principal contractor), so it doesn’t appear as a per-worker line in this calculator. Workers still accrue leave that follows them between employers — check the relevant state scheme for registration and entitlement details.
This is a general calculator, not legal advice. It applies the award’s published adult minimums to the hours you enter — it can’t see your enterprise agreement, allowances or individual arrangements, and junior, apprentice and shiftwork rates differ. Always confirm pay against the award, your agreement or your adviser. If you believe something here is materially wrong or out of date, please contact us — we’ll review it promptly.
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