Tarzana, CA · August – September 2022 · LADWP / LADBS

The utility said where the new panel goes: exactly where the old one was.

A single-story house in Tarzana with a composition shingle roof, a SolarEdge inverter with optimizers, and a meter panel that had to be replaced before the array could be connected. The utility's meter spot fixed the new panel's location at the old one. The utility inspected the new service on the thirteenth of August 2022, and the meter was in the new panel the following week.

When a meter panel is replaced for solar, the utility decides where the new one goes, in a document called a meter spot. Here it said the same location as the existing panel, which is the simplest outcome: the underground and overhead runs stay, the cut-in is short, and the utility's final inspection is of the new panel in the old place. Cali Energy replaced the panel there and built the array on the shingle roof and the inverter on the wall around it.

At a glance

Inverter

SolarEdge HD-Wave, with power optimizers

Service

New meter panel at the existing location

Roof

Composition shingle

Racking

Rail on flashed attachments

Utility inspection of the new service

13 August 2022

Battery

None

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

The meter spot came first. On the sixth of August 2022 the utility's service planner issued it for this house with one instruction that mattered: install the new meter panel in the same location as the existing one. A meter spot can say otherwise. It can move a panel around a corner, away from a gas meter, out from under a window. This one did not, and the project was simpler for it.

Same location means the service conductors that feed the panel do not have to be re-routed and the utility's cut-in, when its crew disconnects and reconnects the house, is a short one. The old panel comes off the wall, the new one goes on the same studs, the stucco is patched around it, and the meter goes back in.

The array went on the shingle roof on flashed attachments, each footing set into the shingle courses so the flashing sheds water over the course below it, with the rails on the footings and the modules on the rails. A SolarEdge optimizer sits under each module, and the string runs down to a SolarEdge HD-Wave inverter on the wall beside the new panel.

The utility inspected the new service on Saturday the thirteenth of August, and by the eighteenth the meter was seated in the new panel. That inspection is of the panel itself: the utility's inspector looks at the new service, the meter socket and the working space in front of it before the meter is sealed. The building department's inspection of the array is a separate thing on a separate day.

The order of work is the thing to take from this one. The meter spot comes first, because it decides where the panel goes. The panel goes in where the spot says. The utility inspects the panel before the meter is seated. Only then is the array a system rather than a set of modules on a roof.

How it ran

This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path: a meter panel replacement that the utility located and inspected.

What we did

• Replaced the meter panel at the location the utility's meter spot specified and patched the stucco around it (C-10).
• Installed the array on flashed attachments lapped into the shingle courses.
• Set a SolarEdge optimizer under each module and an HD-Wave inverter on the wall.
• Had the new service inspected by the utility on the thirteenth of August 2022, with the meter seated in the new panel the following week.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• Your meter panel is the house's original and you have been told it needs replacing before solar.
• You want to know who decides where a new meter panel goes.
• You have a composition shingle roof and want the attachments flashed, not caulked.
• You want the panel, the array and the inverter done under one permit and one contractor.
• Your Tarzana property is served by LADWP, while permits are handled by LADBS.

Cali Energy in Tarzana

Frequently asked questions

What is a meter spot?

A document from the utility that fixes where the meter panel will be, issued before a new or relocated panel is installed. It can keep the panel where it is or move it, and it can carry conditions about clearances and access. On this house it said the new panel goes in the existing location, which kept the service run and the utility's cut-in as short as they could be.

Who inspects a new meter panel?

Both the utility and the building department, separately. The utility's inspector looks at the new service, the meter socket and the working space in front of it before the meter is sealed; on this house that inspection was on the thirteenth of August 2022, and the meter was in the new panel the following week. The building department's inspection covers the electrical work under its permit, including the array.

How are the attachments made on a shingle roof?

Each footing is lag-bolted to a rafter and covered by a metal flashing that is slid up under the course of shingles above it, so water running down the roof passes over the flashing and onto the shingles below rather than into the hole. The rails ride on the footings and the modules on the rails; nothing relies on sealant alone.

What this would look like on your roof

Related

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• The roof, the panel, the array. One contractor Sylmar, CA · roofing, service and solar Solar
• SolarEdge on two matching homes, side by side Sherman Oaks, CA · matching new homes · SolarEdge Solar
• The old array came off with the roof. What went back was twice the system Tarzana, CA · 23.085 kW DC · 57 modules, new 200 A panel Solar

This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path. Updated September 2026.