Burbank, CA · November 2019 – January 2020 · Burbank Water and Power / City of Burbank
The upgrade was ruled out by the yard, not by the panel.
A rooftop array on an established Burbank house, planned around a two-hundred amp service upgrade. The utility's field visit ended that plan in one afternoon, and the project went ahead on the existing hundred-amp panel.
Overhead electric service has to keep a minimum clearance from anything underneath it, and a swimming pool has some of the largest clearance requirements there are. At this property the service drop could not stay where it was and be upgraded, because the pool below it left too little room. No meter spot was issued. The alternatives were an aerial span from a different direction, at a cost, or no upgrade. The owner chose no upgrade, and the array was redesigned around the existing hundred-amp panel. In Burbank that call is made at the utility field visit, before any meter spot exists.
At a glance
- Plans submitted
- 7 November 2019
- Utility field visit
- 19 November 2019
- Outcome of the visit
- No meter spot; the upgrade could not stay in place
- Reason
- Pool clearance under the overhead service
- Decision
- Existing 100 A main panel retained; array resized
- Solar meter spot
- 3 December 2019
- Final inspection passed
- 28 January 2020
- Utility / AHJ
- Burbank Water and Power / City of Burbank
The story
The plan was conventional. An array on the roof, the service brought up from one hundred amps to two hundred, the meter staying more or less where it had always been. Cali Energy submitted it in early November 2019 and the utility booked a field visit for the nineteenth.
The visit ended the plan. The service to this house comes in overhead, and the point where it lands could not carry an upgraded service, because there is a pool underneath. Electric conductors have to keep a clearance from what is below them, and the clearances over a pool and its surrounds are among the strictest in the book, for reasons that do not need explaining. No meter spot was issued that day.
What the utility offered was not a refusal, it was a choice. The service could be upgraded if it came in on a different path: an aerial span to the back of the garage, which meant demolishing the existing shed, and then backfeeding the main house from there, all at the owner's cost. Or the house could keep the hundred-amp service it already had.
The owner chose to keep it, and the next morning the design was reworked around the existing panel and resubmitted. That took one day, and it is the part of this project worth remembering. The field visit was not a setback that cost the project weeks. It cost it a design round, because the constraint was found before anything was ordered and before a single hole was made in the roof.
The utility's own corrections on the revised set were small and specific: show the existing direct current disconnect between the inverter and the junction box, and mark the existing inverter as existing. There had been earlier equipment on this property that the new system was not going to use, and the drawing needed to say so plainly rather than leaving a reviewer to guess which hardware was which. The meter spot issued on the third of December.
The city had its own round in late December, asking for a revised plan set along with corrected labels and placards, which is routine and was answered. The final inspection passed at the end of January 2020.
The system on that roof is the one that could actually be built there, and it was built without anybody paying for a service relocation the house did not need. A constraint found at the field visit costs a drawing. The same constraint found after the equipment is on site costs a great deal more.
How it ran
| 7 November 2019 | Solar plans and interconnection paperwork submitted to the utility |
|---|---|
| 12 November 2019 | Field visit scheduled for a solar meter spot and a 200 A upgrade |
| 19 November 2019 | Field visit: upgrade ruled out on pool clearance; no meter spot issued |
| 20 November 2019 | Owner elects to keep the existing 100 A panel; plans revised and resubmitted |
| 2 December 2019 | Utility corrections on existing equipment shown in the drawings |
| 3 December 2019 | Solar meter spot issued |
| 26 December 2019 | City asks for a revised plan set, labels and placards |
| 28 January 2020 | Final inspection passed |
Twelve weeks from submission to a passed final, including a design reversed at the field visit. This timeline reflects this property.
What we did
- Submitted a complete plan set and interconnection package and booked the utility field visit (C-10).
- Took the field visit finding to the owner the same week with both options costed, rather than pressing on.
- Redesigned the system around the existing hundred-amp service in a day and resubmitted.
- Corrected the drawings to show the property's existing equipment as existing and unused.
- Answered the city's plan corrections on labels and placards and carried the project to a passed final.
System specifications
| Service before | 100 A overhead |
|---|---|
| Service after | 100 A overhead, unchanged |
| Upgrade considered | 200 A, ruled out at the field visit |
| Blocking constraint | Clearance over the pool below the service drop |
| Alternative path offered | Aerial span to the garage, shed demolished, at the owner's cost |
| Existing equipment | Earlier inverter and disconnect on site, not reused |
| Utility / AHJ | Burbank Water and Power / City of Burbank |
Is your project like this one?
- You have a pool, a patio cover or a structure under your overhead service.
- You have been quoted a service upgrade and nobody has looked at the yard.
- Your utility is asking for a field visit before it will issue anything.
- There is older solar equipment on your property that a new system will not use.
- You are being asked to pay for a service relocation you did not expect.
Cali Energy in Burbank
Burbank is its own city with its own municipal utility: permits run through the City of Burbank Building & Safety Division, interconnection through Burbank Water and Power.
In Burbank the utility visits the property before it issues a meter spot, with the plans in hand. That visit is not a formality: it is where a design meets the yard it has to live in, and where designs get sent back.
This installation is on the Burbank projects page alongside the others, and what the work covers is set out on the Burbank service area page.
- License and classifications: CSLB #1032379
- Official reference for this process: Burbank Water and Power — Electric Service Planning
- Official reference for this process: CSLB — check a contractor's license
Frequently asked questions
Can a pool really stop a service upgrade?
Yes, when the service is overhead and passes above it. Conductors must keep defined clearances from the surfaces below them, and the clearances over pools and their surrounds are large. If an upgraded service cannot meet them where the drop currently lands, the drop has to move, which is a different and more expensive job than swapping a panel.
Does Cali Energy handle utility field visits in Burbank?
Yes. In Burbank a technician visits the property with the plans before any meter spot is issued, and Cali Energy books that visit, attends it and works the result into the design. On this project the visit changed the design, which is exactly what it is for. Eleven Burbank projects are written up on our projects page. Our license is CSLB #1032379.
What happens if the field visit kills the design?
You lose a design round and save everything downstream. On this project the system was redrawn around the existing service the next morning and resubmitted within days. The cost of finding out at the field visit is a revision. The cost of finding out after the equipment is ordered and the roof is open is an order of magnitude higher.
Does a hundred-amp service rule out solar?
No. It limits how much can be connected and how, and it makes the panel arithmetic tighter, but plenty of systems run on a hundred-amp service. What matters is what the busbar and main breaker allow once the solar breaker is added, and that is a calculation with a definite answer rather than a matter of opinion.
What this would look like on your roof
Every number on this page came off a real job in Burbank, CA — not a brochure. Tell us your utility, your roof and what your bill looks like now, and we will model your own version of it before you commit to anything.
Or call +1 (323) 844-7777 · Cali Energy, Northridge · CSLB #1032379 (B, C-10, C-39) — design, permits, install and electrical under one licensed contractor.
Related
This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path. Updated September 2026.