Electrical work for Ontario warehouses and shops

Warehouse and logistics loads

The City of Ontario’s May 2026 economic development booklet lists about 133 million square feet of industrial space, with 603,000 more square feet under construction. The HUB@ONT logistics park alone is nine buildings from 200,000 to 930,000 square feet, with the second phase of five buildings due in summer 2027. The booklet also shows a 4.5 million square foot Amazon facility. Ontario Ranch at buildout adds 12 million square feet of commercial and office space and 31 million square feet of industrial space.

Electrical work in a building like that is different from an office job: high-bay lighting, dock equipment, vehicle or forklift charging and service sizes well beyond a house. A tenant moving into an existing warehouse often needs a service check before lease signing. The commercial panel and service upgrades page covers how a load calculation works, and LED lighting retrofits covers high-bay fixture swaps.

SCE sets the schedule, and Charge Ready is closed

Ontario’s city utility, OMUC, runs water and sewer, and SCE supplies the power. SCE’s business rate plans split by demand. TOU-GS-1 is for demand of 20 kW or less, TOU-GS-2 for above 20 kW and below 200 kW, and TOU-GS-3 for 200 to 500 kW. Added load, such as a charger bank, can move an account up a tier.

SCE’s Charge Ready program is not taking new applications according to its current pages, and agreements already in progress must be fully signed by December 31, 2026. Some older SCE pages show a June 30, 2026 cutoff, so ask SCE if a window reopens. See commercial EV charging for a non-rebate plan.

Fire alarm fees sit with the Fire Department

The Ontario Fire Department prices its own plan review, apart from the Building Department. The citywide fee schedule lists fire alarm plan review and permit for new construction or tenant improvements at $927 for the first 15 devices, effective July 1, 2026, and $297 for each added 10 devices, effective August 22, 2026. A zoning agenda from February 2025 says any change to an existing sprinkler or alarm system needs a plan submittal to the Fire Department. For a warehouse with a large device count, that fee is a real line in the budget. Ask the Fire Prevention Bureau early whether racking, dock doors or a new use changes the alarm design. A maintenance agreement can keep alarm and emergency lighting records together.

Two fee tables, one counter

Ontario’s Building Department fee page shows electrical Tables A to F with no printed date. The Citywide Fee Schedule as of July 1, 2026 has its own electrical lines, and its effective dates are August 22, 2026 and October 1, 2025. The two do not match. For example, the older table prices a service up to 200 amps at $172 plus a $41 issuance fee, while the citywide schedule lists a $257.31 service line and a $50 issuance fee. Plan check is 80 percent of the permit fee, and the minimum for any permit is $47.50. The city calls its tables estimates and tells people to call the permit technicians at 909-395-2023. Ask for the figure in writing, and see the tenant improvement electrical page for what a plan set holds.

Older buildings and capacity

Not every Ontario commercial building is new. The city’s adaptive reuse manual warns that an existing building may be limited in electrical service capacity, that upgrades to electrical, water, gas and sewer service are normally costly, and that a building’s infrastructure life span is normally 30 years. That is a reason to run a load calculation before agreeing to a lease in an older building.

What to send

Commercial electrical work in Ontario is available through the partner electrician. Send the building type and square footage, the address, whether you are the tenant, the owner or the property manager, and what is wrong or planned. A photo of the main switchgear and meter helps. Start from the commercial hub, the Ontario residential page or the San Bernardino County overview.