Electrical work in Los Angeles County

Who sells the power

Of the 34 LA County cities covered on this site, 30 are served by Southern California Edison. The other four run city-owned utilities: LADWP in Los Angeles, Burbank Water and Power in Burbank, Glendale Water & Power in Glendale and Pasadena Water and Power in Pasadena. SCE rules, SCE rebates and SCE shutoff notices do not apply in those four.

Inside SCE territory there is a second layer. Eight cities, including Santa Monica, Culver City, Redondo Beach and Whittier, buy their default power through Clean Power Alliance. Lancaster, Pico Rivera and Pomona each have their own city-run community choice program. SCE still owns the wires and the meter, so a service upgrade there still goes through SCE.

A wide range of permit setups

LA County has no single permit process. Some examples from city pages and forms:

• Los Angeles uses LADBS Express Permits for simple residential jobs, with no plan review. Larger service changes go to plan check.
• Pasadena says mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits can be obtained within minutes through its Express Permit Portal.
• Burbank’s Tier 1 permits skip plan check and can be pulled over the counter or online.
• Culver City requires plan review for a service of 400 amps or more, and for solar or battery systems. Its city form puts review at about 15 to 20 business days.
• Gardena lists about 10 business days for a first plan check and 5 for resubmittals.
• Torrance has taken plan reviews and permit submittals through its portal only since January 5, 2026.

The practical point: ask your electrician which path the city uses before you choose a date. The permits guide explains the general steps.

Fire, shutoffs and outages

The county has three different risk patterns.

Foothill and canyon fire. The Eaton Fire began January 7, 2025 and burned about 14,000 acres across Altadena and Pasadena. In Glendora, the Colby Fire started January 16, 2014 above the city and burned about 1,950 acres. Santa Clarita is the county city with the highest shutoff risk on this site. SCE cut power around Canyon Country and Agua Dulce in the Thanksgiving 2020 wind event.

Antelope Valley wind. Lancaster was on SCE’s October 2021 list of places that might lose power, with the first warning covering up to 6,550 customers. Palmdale was warned about a possible shutoff in June 2019.

Grid failures in the flats. Cities such as Torrance, Long Beach and the Downey area have had big outages from substations and vaults, not wildfire. A transformer failure on December 24, 2024 cut power to more than 31,000 customers around Downey and Norwalk. A July 30, 2015 vault explosion in Long Beach cut power to about 30,000 customers.

LADWP does not run SCE-style shutoffs, but said in January 2025 that fire agencies may ask it to cut lines. It told customers in its Tier 2 and Tier 3 fire areas to prepare for outages longer than 48 hours. Read the PSPS guide if your address is in a foothill area.

Housing eras and climate

The median home was built in 1952 in South Gate and 1989 in Palmdale. Before 1970, 11 percent of Palmdale’s homes had been built, against 82 percent in Lakewood. Six cities have at least 70 percent of homes built before 1970: Lakewood, Whittier, Pico Rivera, Norwalk, South Gate and Downey. Eight cities, including Lakewood, Whittier, Culver City and Torrance, have more than 80 percent built before 1980. That is a housing age, not a wiring diagnosis: some of those homes were rewired or had the panel changed years ago, and some still have the original. A look at the panel label and the wiring in the attic or garage tells you more than the build year. Palmdale, Lancaster and Santa Clarita are newer, with 52 to 61 percent built before 1990.

Coast, valley and desert differ in how hard air conditioning works. Santa Monica, Redondo Beach and most of Long Beach sit near the ocean and run little cooling. The basin and the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys run it for months, and Lancaster and Palmdale add desert heat and wind. Long air conditioner run times matter most for panel load in the valleys and the Antelope Valley.

Local money

Amounts below are from each utility’s page as of October 2026. Programs can run out of funds.

• LADWP: up to $1,000 for a qualifying Level 2 charger, plus $500 more for Senior/Disability Lifeline or EZ-SAVE customers (up to $1,500). A $250 rebate for a dedicated EV meter. A $0.025 per kWh discount on base-period charges for a separately metered charger on a time-of-use plan. See the LADWP guide.
• Pasadena: $1,000 for an electric panel upgrade, plus $500 more if enrolled in income-qualified bill assistance. Chargers get $600 for a Wi-Fi connected Level 2 or $200 for a standard one.
• Burbank: a standard charger earns $200 and a smart charger $500. A panel upgrade adds $750 and cannot be claimed alone, up to $1,250.
• Glendale: $200 for a non-networked charger, $599 for a networked one, plus $800 with an electric panel upgrade.
• SCE territory: Charge Ready Home lists up to $4,200 for eligible income-qualified households toward a 200-amp panel and a dedicated 240-volt circuit; check current tiers. See the SCE rebate guide.

Compare the four city utilities in the city utility rebates guide. For project types, start with panel upgrades and EV chargers.