Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24
Everything over 1000 volts now has its own parallel set of articles
The over-1000-volt requirements used to sit as parts and exceptions inside the general articles. Five of them came out in 2026, on top of four that came out in 2023.
Quiz yourself: did this section move?
On this page
What the 2026 edition added
Five articles, each one a medium-voltage twin of a general article you already use. Four came out of Article 235 and the fifth came out of Article 250. The threshold throughout is over 1000 volts ac or 1500 volts dc, nominal.
| Subject | General voltage | Over 1000 volts | Built from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Branch circuits | Article 210 | Article 265 | Article 235 Part II |
| Feeders | Article 215 | Article 266 | Article 235 Part III |
| Outside branch circuits and feeders | Article 225 | Article 267 | Article 235 Part IV |
| Services | Article 230 | Article 268 | Article 235 Part V |
| Grounding and bonding | Article 250 | Article 270 | The over-1000-volt part of Article 250 |
Read the second column as the article you already know and the third as its medium-voltage twin. The first four arrive in the same order as the four you already use. That is deliberate, and it is the part worth remembering.
Article 235 held all of that in one place through the 2023 edition. The 2026 edition deletes it, and its parts come back as four separate articles.
Four more that a 2023 book already carries
This is where lists like this go wrong, and where this page went wrong. The split did not start in 2026. Four of the medium-voltage articles were added one cycle earlier, so a 2023 book is not missing them.
| Subject | General voltage | Over 1000 volts | Added in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overcurrent protection | Article 240 | Article 245 | 2023 |
| Wiring methods and materials | Article 300 | Article 305 | 2023 |
| Conductors and cables | Article 310 | Article 315 | 2023 |
| Equipment | spread across several | Article 495 | 2023 |
Article 245 covers overcurrent protection for systems over 1000 volts ac, 1500 volts dc, and it covered exactly that in the 2023 book. Citing it for a 2026 job is right. Counting it as a 2026 addition is the error.
The same reasoning cuts the other way inside these four. An article that arrived in 2023 can still have sections that arrived in 2026, and both 245.2 and 495.2 did.
The pattern is deliberate and it is learnable
The new numbers are not arbitrary. The four circuit and service articles shadow the four you already use, in the same order. Grounding and bonding keeps its own shape too: the general article is 250 and its twin is 270.
In places the twinning reaches down to the section number. Article 270 has a 270.30 for grounding separately derived alternating-current systems, which is the job 250.30 does below the threshold, and 250.20(D) now sends an impedance grounded system to 250.36 or 270.36 depending on which side of the threshold it sits.
The mirroring is not complete, so do not lean on it. 250.20(C) points a medium-voltage supply to mobile or portable equipment at 270.115, which is not a number that pairs with anything. Look for the twin article first and read the section number when you get there.
So there is nothing here to memorize as a list of nine numbers. There is one rule: for medium voltage, look for the twin.
What this actually changes for a low-voltage job
For most work, nothing. If everything you touch is under 1000 volts, the general articles are still the general articles and they got shorter, not different.
Shorter is the point. The parts and exceptions that used to interrupt Article 250 to deal with medium voltage are gone from it, so Article 250 reads more cleanly than it did.
Where it bites is a citation you memorized that pointed into one of those removed parts.
Three listing requirements that do not start yet
There are three of these in the over-1000-volt material, not one. Article 245 does it for overcurrent protection, Article 495 does it for equipment, and Article 315 does it for medium voltage cable. None of the three articles is new this cycle. 245.2 and 495.2 are new sections inside them, and 315.2 is not, so a 2023 book already carries the cable one.
NEC 245.2(A) requires overcurrent protection on systems rated not over 15,000 volts, ac or dc, to be listed, and dates that requirement to January 1, 2029. It carries an exception: overcurrent protection that is integral to a listed assembly does not have to be listed on its own (NEC 245.2(A), 2026 edition).
NEC 245.2(B) does the same thing one tier up, for systems over 15,000 volts but not over 52,000 volts, and its date is January 1, 2032. The exception for overcurrent protection integral to a listed assembly is printed under 245.2(A) only. It does not appear under 245.2(B), so do not carry it across.
Under NEC 495.2(A), switchgear and industrial control assemblies rated not over 15,000 volts ac or dc shall be listed, effective January 1, 2029. NEC 495.2(B) takes the tier above that, up to 52,000 volts, with January 1, 2032.
Get the 495 number right. The 2032 date is at 495.2(B). NEC 495.3 is a different section, Reconditioned Equipment, and the two get transposed constantly because the 2026 edition puts Listing Requirements at .2 and Reconditioned Equipment at .3 in article after article.
The third one sits in the cable article. NEC 315.2 requires Type MV cables, Type MV cable joints, cable terminations, connectors and the fittings that go with them to be listed, and dates the joints, terminations and connectors to January 1, 2032. The cables themselves carry no delayed date in that sentence.
All five of those dates are printed in the book Texas adopts on September 1 and none of them applies yet. There is a separate page here on every delayed date we have found.
Where each over 1,000 volt rule lives now
Start with the article people search for. Article 235 is not in the 2026 book. Search the 2026 text for it and nothing comes back, so any answer phrased as a part of Article 235 is an answer about a 2023 book.
What that article held came out as four articles, and each of those carries parts of its own. Naming the part is worth more than naming the article, because the part is where a lookup actually ends.
Article 265, branch circuits
Three parts. Part I is general, Part II is branch circuit ratings, and Part III is required outlets. A question about how many branch circuits there have to be, or what rating one gets, ends in Part II. The receptacle outlet at equipment that needs servicing is in Part III.
Article 266, feeders
No parts at all. It is a short flat article, and its sections run from the scope through minimum ampacity and size, overcurrent protection, diagrams of feeders, the feeder equipment grounding conductor and identification for feeders.
So if somebody asks which part of the feeder article a rule sits in, the honest answer is that the article has none.
Article 267, outside branch circuits and feeders
Two parts. Part I is general, and Part II covers buildings or other structures supplied by a feeder or a branch circuit. The number of supplies, the disconnecting means, how many disconnects there can be and how they are grouped and rated all sit in Part II.
Article 268, services
Seven parts. Part I is general, Part II is overhead service conductors and Part III is underground ones. Part IV is service-entrance conductors. Then three service equipment parts: a general one, one for the disconnecting means, and one for overcurrent protection.
The service answer is therefore not one part. Which one you want depends on whether you are asking about the conductors coming in, the conductors at the building, or the equipment they land in.
Article 245, overcurrent protection
No parts here either. The sections run scope, listing requirements, reconditioned equipment, adjustable relays and trip units, circuit-interrupting devices, feeders and branch circuits, and additional requirements for feeders.
Listing requirements is the section carrying the two delayed dates described above. Everything else in the article was there in the 2023 book.
Article 270, grounding and bonding
Nine parts, in the same order as the nine in Article 250: general, system grounding, the grounding electrode system and grounding electrode conductor, enclosure and raceway and service cable connections, bonding, equipment grounding and equipment grounding conductors, methods of equipment grounding conductor connections, direct-current systems, and instruments, meters and relays.
That is the twinning at its most useful. If you know which part of Article 250 a grounding rule sits in, you know which part of Article 270 to open.
Questions people ask
Where are the requirements for branch circuits, feeders and services over 1,000 volts?
In four separate articles in the 2026 edition. Branch circuits are Article 265, feeders are Article 266, outside branch circuits and feeders are Article 267, and services are Article 268. All four came out of Article 235, which the 2026 edition deletes.
Which part of Article 235 covers services over 1,000 volts?
Part V, in a 2023 book. In a 2026 book there is no Article 235 to have a part, and the service rules are Article 268, which runs seven parts of its own. If the question came from a course written before this edition, it is asking about the older book.
Which part covers outside branch circuits and feeders over 1,000 volts?
Article 235 Part IV in the 2023 edition. In the 2026 edition it is Article 267, and inside that article the rules for a building or structure supplied by a feeder or a branch circuit are Part II. Part I holds the general material.
What does Article 245 cover?
Overcurrent protection for systems over 1000 volts ac, 1500 volts dc. It has no parts, and its sections run from the scope through listing requirements, reconditioned equipment, adjustable relays and trip units, circuit-interrupting devices, and feeders and branch circuits. The article arrived in the 2023 edition, so a 2023 book already has it.
Where is overcurrent protection over 1,000 volts?
Article 245, in both editions. That is what makes it a safe citation and a bad example of a 2026 addition. What is new this cycle is the listing requirements section inside it, which carries dates in 2029 and 2032.
Where did these rules sit in the 2023 edition?
In Article 235, as parts of it, apart from overcurrent protection which was already Article 245. Part II was branch circuits, Part III feeders, Part IV outside branch circuits and feeders, and Part V services. Grounding and bonding above the threshold sat inside Article 250 and is now Article 270.
Do these rules apply to solar or wind?
The scope sections define these articles by voltage rather than by the kind of source. Read 245.1, 265.1, 266.1, 267.1, 268.1 and 270.1 in your own book and each one names a nominal threshold of over 1000 volts ac or 1500 volts dc and stops there. So what decides is the voltage on the circuit in front of you, not the technology behind it.
Does the Texas exam test them?
The Texas examinations reference the 2026 edition from September 1, 2026, so Articles 245 and 265 through 270 are inside the book you take into the room. We have not seen a published content outline that names them, so we are not going to tell you they are on your exam. What we can say is that material written on the 2023 structure points at an article that is gone.
Find where any 2023 section went, in seconds
Every moved, reused and vacated number, with the document each one was read in. $29 once, no account. Ten of them free in the quiz first.
Fifty numbers, each checked against the 2026 text, with a public corrections log.
What this page cites
- NEC 245.1 Scope of overcurrent protection over 1000 volts. Article added in the 2023 edition. source
- NEC 245.2(A) Listing requirement for overcurrent protection, effective 1 January 2029. Created by second revision 8131 in panel 9's second draft. source
- NEC 495.2(B) Listing requirement for switchgear and industrial control assemblies over 15,000 volts, effective 1 January 2032. Created by second revision 8266. 495.3 is Reconditioned Equipment, created by second revision 8337. source
- NEC 265.1 Scope of branch circuits over 1000 volts. Article added in the 2026 edition from Article 235 Part II. source
- NEC 270.1 Scope of grounding and bonding over 1000 volts ac, 1500 volts dc. Article added in the 2026 edition. Read in panel 5's second draft. source
- NEC 270.30 Grounding separately derived alternating-current systems over 1000 volts, the counterpart of 250.30. Read in panel 5's second draft. source
- NEC 305.1 Scope of wiring methods over 1000 volts. Article added in the 2023 edition.
- NEC 495.1 Scope of equipment over 1000 volts. Article added in the 2023 edition.