Van Nuys, Los Angeles, CA · May 2025 – June 2026 · LADWP / LADBS

The array was done in autumn. A year later it was still waiting on Wi-Fi.

A new dwelling built under the state lot-split law, on a lot that now carries three meters. The array went on a dark shingle hip roof and passed inspection in October. Two things stood between it and running, and neither of them was electrical.

Written by the Cali Energy project team · California contractor license 1032379 · Updated September 2026

After the building department releases a new dwelling, LADWP still needs photographs of the completed work before it will issue a field order for the solar meter, and once the order is issued a crew visit takes roughly fifteen to twenty business days. On this Van Nuys unit the photographs Cali Energy sent moved the project in a single day, the meter followed inside three weeks, and commissioning then waited for the unit to have an internet connection.

At a glance

Home

New dwelling on a lot split under state law

Size recorded by the utility

2.29 kW AC-CEC

Modules

All-black

Inverters

One microinverter per module

Metering

Three-position meter panel serving the lot

Release to field order

Five months, cleared by one set of photographs

Field order to meter

Under three weeks

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

The lot carries three meters on one panel: a four-hundred-amp metering assembly with three positions, which is what a property looks like once it has been split and built out under state law. The newest of the three homes is the one this project belongs to.

The solar side is modest and was never the difficulty. A small array of all-black modules with a microinverter under each, laid on the sunward planes of a dark shingle hip roof, recorded by the utility at 2.29 kilowatts AC-CEC. The interconnection application went in during May, the work went on through the summer, and the building department released the job in October.

Then the project went quiet, and the reason is worth understanding because it is specific to new construction.

A solar meter is not installed on a building that does not yet have a meter. The utility will not set one on a new dwelling until that dwelling has a permanent service meter and an open billing account, because the solar meter replaces the existing one rather than arriving alongside it. On a new home that means the ordinary service work has to finish first, in its own work request, at its own pace.

Beyond that, the utility wanted to see the finished installation. Not a drawing or a release, but photographs of the completed service equipment as built. That is a reasonable request and it is also the kind of request that sits unnoticed unless somebody is watching the work request rather than the inbox.

In March the photographs went in. The reply came the same day: the job had been processed and the field order for the solar meter had been sent. We asked how long that takes, and got a straight answer worth writing on a wall — once the order is assigned to a crew, typically a minimum of fifteen to twenty business days, depending on workload.

The crew came inside three weeks, and the net meter was set in the middle of April.

And then the system still did not run, because the unit had no internet.

Microinverter systems report through a gateway, and the gateway needs a network to report over. Commissioning is the visit where the system is started, the gateway is joined to the network and every microinverter is confirmed reporting. In an empty new unit with no tenant, there is nothing to join. We asked in June whether Wi-Fi had been installed yet so we could come and switch it on.

That is the whole ending. No fault, no dispute, no technical problem. A finished array, an approved interconnection, a set meter, and a building waiting for somebody to move in and order internet.

If you are building a unit to rent: put the internet connection on the same list as the appliances. It is the cheapest item on it and it is the one that decides when the solar starts counting.

How it ran

Five months from release to field order, one day once the photographs were sent, under three weeks from field order to meter.

What we did

• Designed and installed a small array on the hip planes of a new dwelling's roof.
• Wired the system to the unit's own position on the lot's three-meter assembly.
• Filed the interconnection application against the new unit's service.
• Supplied the completed-work photographs that released the field order for the solar meter.
• Followed the field order through to the meter installation.
• Held commissioning until the unit had a network for the monitoring gateway.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• You are building a unit to rent and want the solar running when the tenant arrives.
• Your new home's solar is finished but the utility has not set a meter.
• Your lot has more than one meter and you are adding solar to one of them.
• You have been asked for photographs of completed work and are unsure what for.
• You want to know what actually happens between inspection and switch-on.

Cali Energy in Van Nuys

Frequently asked questions

Why will the utility not install a solar meter on a new building?

Because the solar meter replaces an existing service meter rather than being added beside it. A newly built dwelling has to have its permanent meter set and a billing account open before the solar meter can take its place. Where the ordinary service work is still running as a separate job, the solar side waits for it, regardless of how finished the array is.

What photographs does LADWP want before issuing a field order?

Pictures of the completed installation as built: the service equipment, the point of connection and the meter position, showing the work in its finished state. They let the utility confirm what its crew will find before sending anyone out. Submitting them promptly matters more than most people expect. On this project they turned a five-month pause into a field order the same day.

How long does a solar meter take once the field order is issued?

The utility's own guidance is a minimum of fifteen to twenty business days once the order is assigned to a crew, depending on their workload. This project ran about two weeks. It is a useful number to hold onto, because it separates the part of the wait that is administrative from the part that is simply a crew's schedule.

Does a solar system need internet to work?

The system produces power without it, but it cannot be commissioned or monitored without a network. Microinverter systems report through a gateway that has to join a Wi-Fi or wired connection before the installer can confirm every microinverter is running and hand over monitoring. In an empty new unit that usually means the internet has to be ordered before the final visit.

Does Cali Energy commission the system after the meter is set?

Yes, and it is a separate visit from the installation. Commissioning is where the system is started, the monitoring gateway joins the network and every microinverter is confirmed reporting. Cali Energy holds that visit until the meter is in and the building has a connection, then hands over monitoring to whoever will live there. License CSLB #1032379.

What this would look like on your roof

Related

• Everything was approved. The meter crew had not been out Van Nuys, CA · two dwellings · eight weeks in the meter queue Solar
• The array was here. The paperwork said it was there Van Nuys, CA · reroof and solar · cool-roof shingle, one address short Solar
• Seven modules, one day. Then four months waiting for a meter Reseda, CA · 2.78 kW AC-CEC · new detached ADU Solar
• The ADU has to exist before its solar can be connected Winnetka, CA · 2.59 + 2.16 kW AC-CEC · two dwellings Solar

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