Hollywood Hills, CA · March – September 2022 · LADWP / LADBS
Somebody had crossed out the amperage.
A meter spot is the utility telling you where the service goes and what it may be. This one said two hundred amps, with four hundred written over the top in pen.
A meter spot is the document the utility issues to fix where a service will be installed and at what rating. It is what the panel gets built to. A figure struck out and replaced by hand raises a question that has to be answered before anything is ordered: whether the change came from the utility's own engineer, in which case it stands, or from somebody else, in which case the panel would be built to a rating the utility never issued. Cali Energy confirmed the 400-amp figure in writing before ordering anything for this Hollywood Hills service in Los Angeles.
At a glance
- Service
- Replaced and relocated, 400 A
- On the sheet
- 200 A struck through, 400 A written in
- Question asked
- Before scheduling, not after
- Outcome
- Change confirmed as the reviewing engineer's own
- Utility / AHJ
- LADWP / LADBS
The story
The job arrived described in one line: a house in the hills with a main panel upgrade to four hundred amps, and a folder of documents to work from. The documents are where it got interesting.
The meter spot in that folder was issued for two hundred amps. On the same sheet, the two hundred had been struck through and four hundred written in beside it, along with some notes in the margin. Nothing about the sheet said who had done that.
So before anything was scheduled, we asked. A meter spot is not advisory. It is the utility stating where the service equipment will sit and what rating it is being approved at, and it is the document the panel, the conductors and the permit all get built to. If a number on it has been changed by somebody other than the utility, the panel gets built to a rating that was never issued, and that is discovered at the inspection or, worse, at the meter set.
The answer came back the next morning and it was the good one: the notes were the reviewing engineer's own, he had changed it to four hundred amps himself, and it was approved at four hundred. A marked-up sheet from the engineer who issued it is still the engineer's issue. A marked-up sheet from anyone else is a drawing.
That is the whole lesson and it takes one email to apply. Any hand-written change on a utility document is worth one question: did this come from you. The cost of asking is a morning. The cost of not asking is a service panel.
The rest of the project was hill work. The service was not only being upgraded, it was being moved to a new location, which on a sloped lot means the run changes as well as the equipment. The array layout was revised once, in April, with a fresh material list going out the day before the new layout — the usual sign that the design settled after the first count rather than before it.
What to take from it if you are having a service replaced. Ask to see the meter spot before the panel is ordered, not after. Read the rating on it rather than the rating in the quote. And if anything on that sheet is hand-written, ask the utility to confirm it in writing — not because anyone is being dishonest, but because the document is what the inspector will read, and the inspector was not in the conversation.
Cali Energy replaced and relocated the service on this Hollywood Hills house and checked the amperage on the meter spot before ordering anything. The service went in at four hundred amps and the array was commissioned on it.
How it ran
| 24 March 2022 | Job received; four-hundred-amp service replacement described |
|---|---|
| 24 March 2022 | Meter spot queried — the sheet reads two hundred amps with four hundred written over it |
| 25 March 2022 | Utility confirms the change is the reviewing engineer's own and the spot is approved at four hundred |
| 25 April 2022 | Material list issued |
| 26 April 2022 | Array layout revised |
| 26 April 2022 | Installation scheduled |
| September 2022 | Service energized and the array commissioned |
The question about the amperage was asked on day one and answered on day two. Everything else was scheduling.
What we did
- Read the meter spot before scheduling rather than after.
- Queried the hand-written amperage with the utility in writing.
- Waited for written confirmation before ordering the service equipment.
- Revised the array layout once the material count was settled.
System specifications
| Service | Main panel replaced and relocated, 400 A |
|---|---|
| Meter spot | Issued at 200 A, amended by hand to 400 A |
| Confirmation | Obtained in writing from the utility before ordering |
| Roof | Hillside lot, array layout revised once |
| Utility / AHJ | LADWP / LADBS |
Is your project like this one?
- Your meter spot has a figure on it that has been changed by hand.
- You are being asked to build a service to a rating that is not the one on the sheet.
- Your quote and your meter spot show different amperages.
- The service is being moved as well as replaced, on a sloped lot.
Cali Energy in Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills are inside City of Los Angeles boundaries, permitted through LADBS and interconnected through LADWP. The lots here are steep and narrow, the services are old, and the distance between where the meter is and where it has to end up is usually the expensive part of the job.
This installation is on the Los Angeles projects page alongside the others, and what the work covers is set out on the Los Angeles service area page.
- License and classifications: CSLB #1032379
- Official reference for this process: LADWP — Electric Service Requirements Manual
- Official reference for this process: LADBS — inspections
Frequently asked questions
What is a meter spot?
The document the utility issues to fix where service equipment will be installed and at what rating. It is what the panel, the conductors and the permit are all built to, and it is what the inspector reads at the final. It is issued before the work, not after, and a project that starts without one is a project building to an assumption.
Is a hand-written change on a meter spot valid?
It depends entirely on whose hand. If the reviewing engineer amended the sheet and issued it that way, the amended figure is the issued figure. If anyone else changed it, the sheet no longer says what the utility approved. There is no way to tell the two apart by looking, which is why the only safe response is to ask the utility to confirm it in writing.
What happens if the panel is built to the wrong rating?
It is found at the inspection or at the meter set, and by then the equipment is on the wall and the conductors are in the ground. A service rating is not a detail that can be adjusted on site — it determines the panel, the main breaker, the conductor size and the utility's own connection. Catching it on paper costs a morning.
Does Cali Energy work in the Hollywood Hills?
Yes, and the hills are their own kind of project. Lots are steep and narrow, services are old and often in the wrong place, and moving a service is as much of the job as upgrading it. Cali Energy handles Hollywood Hills projects through LADBS and LADWP like anywhere else in Los Angeles — what changes is the access and the length of the run.
What this would look like on your roof
Every number above came off a real job in Hollywood Hills, 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.