Breaking Down some of the NEC 2026 First Draft: A Conversation with Dean Hunter

	Mike Miller

Submitted by Mike Miller, Curriculum & Training Manager

The NFPA has published the First Draft Report of the many, many Public Inputs that were received from interested electrical professionals. In reading them on NFPA’s site, I found many typical suggestions for changes relating to grammatical corrections and word additions to exiting sentences to promote clarity. When it came to the major changes I moved on to the "Authority Having Jurisdiction.” I had the recent opportunity to host a podcast with Dean Hunter as my guest. We had a great discussion on some of the code changes that will result from the First Draft Report that will impact our wiring practices. The time flew by and here is a brief recap from some of the proposed changes:

• 110.16 will now require installers to apply permanent arc flash marking to service equipment and feeder supplied equipment such as switchgear, switchboards, and enclosed panelboards, industrial control panels, meter socket enclosures, and motor control centers in other than dwelling units. The information on the  arc flash hazard marking must contain the nominal system voltage, the arc flash boundary, the available incident energy, OR minimum required level of personal protective equipment. And the date the label applied. Dean's hope was that certain web-based calculation tools will become available to enable all to follow this new requirement similar to how calculations are done for available fault current.
• Article 220 was removed and relocated to a new Article 120 where many calculations are relocated to which are consistent with the reconstruction of the NEC into 20 chapters.
• Article 408.6 changes were made to include requirements for recalculating available fault current when modifications to equipment have been made as well as labeling equipment with updated information. Also replaced or added, OCP’s must be verified as having an interrupting level equal to or greater than the available fault current.
• Article 210.8(F) Indicates a that listed HVAC equipment must be protected by GFCI or SPGFCI protection effective 9/1/2026. The SPFGCI is listed for protection of circuits more than 150 volts to ground and have a higher trip rating than the standard Class A  which is not more that 6 mA. SPGFCI’s, Class C,D, and E, have a 20-mA trip rating which should help with the permitted leakage current are compressor startup.
• Article210.23(A)(1) removed the option of supplying a gas fireplace unit with the new 10-amp branch circuit. The option was removed because "receptacles” were not permitted to be supplied by the 10-amp branch circuit, but a gas fireplace could be cord and plug connected creating a violation. It was simple enough to prohibit this practice to avoid violations.
• Article 210.54(C)(4) Was modified to prevent the possibility of cords being plugged into receptacles supplying countertop appliances  that would result in the cord being pulled. Spacing changes have been made.
• Article 525 Covering Carnivals was rewritten to reflect enhanced wiring installations for safety.
• Article 625.54, which pertains to ground-fault circuit-interrupter (GFCI) protection for personnel for electric vehicle supply equipment, is being updated. The change extends GFCI protection from just receptacles to include all outlets, enhancing safety measures. Also, GFCI protection requirement is now extended from a 50-ampere supply circuit to a 60-ampere supply circuit.

In the interest of space and time, it is our intention to continue to upgrade this story with additional information as it become available.

The discussion with Dean was extremely enlightening to hear an explanation of the substantiations for many of the changes. Stay connected with the Electrical Association to follow additional information on the 2026 National Electrical Code Updates.

Remember, Public Input for the 2026 NEC closed on September 7, 2023.

The First Draft Report was Posted July 10, 2024.

Public Comment of the First Draft ended August 28, 2024