Code Change Summary: Title change to Article 210 and new language on branch circuit identification.

SME commentary: In the 2026 NEC^® editorial changes were made to the title of Article 210 to shorten the article title from “Branch Circuits Not Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal” to simply “Branch Circuits”. This was a move by the Correlating Committee to align with similar article titles applicable to installations of 1000 volts ac, 1500 volts dc or less. Examples:

• Article 210 Branch Circuits Not Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal
• Article 215 Feeders
• Article 225 Outside Branch Circuits and Feeders
• Article 230 Services
• Article 250 Grounding and Bonding

All of the above articles also have a counterpart article for applications Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal as in the examples below:

• Article 265 Branch Circuits Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal
• Article 266 Feeders Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal
• Article 267 Outside Branch Circuits and Feeders Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal
• Article 268 Services Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal
• Article 270 Grounding and Bonding of Systems Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal

Since “Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal” is already part of the title in Articles 265 – 270, and the scopes of the articles clearly address the voltages covered by each article, the additional verbiage in the title of Article 210 was unnecessary.

Another noteworthy change is the addition of new language in 210.5(C)(1) to address branch circuit identification for installations where the premises wiring system only has branch circuits supplied from one nominal voltage system. When this is the case, branch circuit ungrounded conductors shall be identified in accordance with 310.6(A)(3) which requires ungrounded conductors, whether used as a single conductor or in multiconductor cables, to be finished to be clearly distinguishable from grounded conductors and equipment grounding conductors.

Before this new code language, Section 210.5(C) jumped straight into the branch circuit identification requirements for installations supplied from more than one nominal voltage system while offering no code language in this section for wiring systems where only one nominal voltage system is present. A similar change occurred for feeders in 215.12(C).

Below is a preview of the NEC^®. See the actual NEC^® text at NFPA.ORG for the complete code section. Once there, click on their link to free access to the 2026 NEC^® edition of NFPA 70.

2023 Code Language:

Article 210 Branch Circuits Not Over 1000 Volts ac, 1500 Volts dc, Nominal

2026 Code Language:

Article 210 Branch Circuits

N 210.5(C)(1) Branch Circuits Supplied from One Nominal Voltage System. Where the premises wiring system has branch circuits supplied from one nominal voltage system, branch circuit ungrounded conductors shall be identified in accordance with 310.6(A)(3).