Code changes, indexed
Every 2026 NEC change topic on this site: what moved, what is new, what Texas amended, and which edition applies to your exam or your permit and when.
How this is organized
Written for people who already hold a license and need the deltas rather than the basics.
What moved
- Load calculationsThe dwelling figure that sizes a service is 2 volt-amperes per square foot now
Load calculations left Chapter 2 and landed in Chapter 1 as Article 120. One constant inside them changed value on…
- What movedTwo articles changed address, and most of your book did not
The nine chapters are the nine chapters. A short list of articles changed number, and inside a handful of articles…
- Which edition appliesThe edition that applies is not always the newest one
Texas adopts on a date. A permitted job stays on the edition its permit was pulled under. An unpermitted one goes…
What is new
- Article 250 changesArticle 250 in the 2026 edition, and where to look first
The article kept its number and most of its shape. Two things moved anyway, and one of them means a medium-voltage…
- Article 430 changesWhat is new in Article 430 this cycle
The motor sizing method is unchanged. One section is new, it is a flat prohibition rather than a calculation, and…
- Interim amendmentsTentative Interim Amendments, and why the printed page is not the last word
NFPA amended the 2026 code eight times. Seven of those amendments were folded in before the book was printed and…
- Networked breakersThe networked breaker rule arrived in 2023, not 2026
A breaker whose rating can be raised from somewhere else is a breaker whose protection can be removed from…
Overview
- The 2026 transitionTexas adopts the 2026 NEC on September 1, and nobody has answered the obvious questions
The date is published. What is not published is which edition governs an exam you sit in October, or whether the…
- 2023 against 20262023 vs 2026 NEC: The Changes That Matter in Texas
Fifteen changes, one short paragraph each, and a link to the page on this site that carries the citation…
- How often the code changesHow Often Is the NEC Updated? The Three Year Cycle
The book changes on a three year rhythm and your state does not. Those are two different clocks…
Everything else
- The crosswalkFifty numbers, and what stands behind every one of them
Every change list in this market prints its destinations with the same flat confidence, and some of those…
- The September 1 cutoverTexas adopts the 2026 code on September 1, and it did not adopt all of it
The vote was 28 July and the rule is 16 TAC 73.100. The part almost nobody has written up is subsection (b), which…
- Article 750 reusedArticle 750 now covers something completely different
A moved article you notice, because the number is empty. A reused number you do not notice, because there is a real…
- Change markersThe change marks in your book will not show you what moved
Four marks, explained by NFPA in the front of the book. None of them is a moved-material mark, and this is the…
- Delayed effective datesSome rules in the book you are holding start on their own date
A rule can be printed, adopted and enforceable, and still not apply to you until a date years away. The book says…
- Limited-energy rewriteThe low-voltage and signaling articles were rebuilt, and Article 770 is gone
If your work touches control wiring, fire alarm, data or fiber, the articles you reach for were renumbered as a…
- Over 1000 volts splitEverything 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…
- New articlesThe articles that did not exist last cycle
Thirteen article numbers are new. Twelve of them are new addresses for material that was already in the book, and…
- Reused numbersFour numbers that still exist and now mean something else
A vacated number costs you a few seconds. A reused number can cost you an afternoon, because the text at the old…