Do EEI Test Scores Transfer Between Utilities?

Sometimes, yes — but it is a request, not a right. If you have already sat an EEI battery at one company, you can ask that the result be released to another company you are applying to, using a written authorization form. Whether the receiving employer accepts it instead of testing you again is entirely that employer's decision, and several conditions have to line up first.

What EEI says

EEI's own public guidance is short and worth reading exactly. It tells applicants that if you have applied for a position with a company that requires an EEI test you have already taken elsewhere, you should notify the company you are applying to, and that if the company has questions it should contact EEI's testing administration directly. It also states that EEI does not administer its employment tests to applicants itself and directs applicants to the employer for everything test-related.

Two things follow. The first is that you are expected to raise it — nothing happens automatically, and no central record is consulted on your behalf. The second is that the conversation is between the two employers, with EEI available to the companies rather than to you.

The form

The mechanism is a consent form. Xcel Energy publishes one, titled "Authorization to Release Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Test Scores", and its operative sentence is precise: you authorize the originating company to release your named test battery scores to the receiving company's testing program manager or designee, and you acknowledge that you are consenting to the release of test data to be used to identify qualified candidates for hiring, transfer or promotion. The form also has you waive claims against either company arising from the release and use of that data.

Other employers run the same process under the same name. Arkansas Electric Cooperative tells candidates who have previously taken the required test with another company to complete the EEI authorization to release form, and notes that if results cannot be obtained from the previous company within a week of the request, testing proceeds anyway.

That last detail is the practical one: start the request early. A transfer that arrives after the testing session has been scheduled is no use to anybody.

Where transfers break down

Four things stop a transfer working, and all of them are worth checking before you rely on one.

• Different battery. A CAST result does not help you with a POSS requirement. And CAST and CAST-R are not the same instrument — CAST-R replaced Mathematical Usage with the Work Preferences Inventory — so even within the trades family a result may not map.
• Age of the result. Validity rules differ by employer. Duke Energy and Entergy both say results stay valid until the position requirements change, with no fixed expiry; Entergy adds "or the test changes". Southern California Edison publishes a tiered schedule instead, in which aptitude results hold until replaced while knowledge and physical results expire on set timescales. Southern Company says results may be valid until requirements change or only for a specific period.
• Different requirements. Since each employer sets its own hiring level internally, a result that was enough at one company is not automatically enough at another.
• The receiving employer simply prefers to test you. That is a legitimate choice and it is theirs to make.

How to ask

1. Tell the recruiter at the new employer, early, that you have sat the battery elsewhere. Give the battery name, the company and the approximate date.
2. Ask whether they accept transferred results for this role, and whether they have their own authorization form or want you to obtain the previous employer's.
3. Complete the form and return it promptly, to whoever the receiving employer names.
4. Keep applying and keep preparing in the meantime. Assume you will be tested until somebody tells you otherwise.

The honest summary

Score transfer is real, it is routine enough that employers publish forms for it, and it is worth asking about — particularly if you are inside a retake waiting period at one utility and applying to another. It is not a portable certificate. You cannot request your own scores from EEI, you cannot present a result to an employer directly, and nobody is obliged to accept one.

Which is why the practical advice is the unglamorous kind: keep your preparation current so that being asked to sit the battery again is an inconvenience rather than a crisis. A fortnight of timed section practice puts you back where you were, and lifetime access means you are not paying again each time an application comes round.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a copy of my own EEI test scores?

No. EEI does not provide results to applicants; results go to the employer, and it is the employer that decides what to tell you.

How long are EEI scores valid?

There is no central expiry. Duke Energy and Entergy say results remain valid until the position requirements change; Southern California Edison publishes a schedule under which aptitude test results hold until replaced; Southern Company says validity may be open-ended or limited. Ask the employer.

Does a transfer save me from retaking?

It can, if the receiving employer accepts it and the battery matches. Treat it as a possibility rather than a plan, and prepare as though you will be tested.

Who do I contact about a transfer?

The recruiter at the company you are applying to. EEI's guidance directs applicants to the employer, and tells employers to contact EEI's testing administration if they have questions.