City of Commerce

A city address is usually permitted by the city, not the county — but not always, and some authorities keep building and hand electrical to someone else. Getting this wrong costs the whole submittal, because every requirement below belongs to whoever actually holds jurisdiction. Check the overlays in the same pass: an HOA, a historic district, a windstorm certification or a system-size cap can reshape the design, and all of them are cheaper to find now than after the array is laid out.

• Is this authority the AHJ for residential solar at this address? Yes 92% · department page
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Both 75% · department page
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 85% · department page
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Combined 70% · department page

Several authorities require the electrical permit to be pulled by a licensed electrician, or require the contractor to be registered with them BEFORE applying. Registration is not same-day. This is second on the list rather than fourth because it is the step most likely to stop the job before the drawings matter.

• Who is allowed to pull the electrical permit? Either 80% · department form (Permit Worksheet)
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes 85% · department form (Owner-Builder Declaration)

Almost everywhere wants a site plan, a one-line or three-line electrical diagram, equipment cut sheets with listings, and a structural attachment detail. Build it against the published checklist rather than the last jurisdiction you worked in — the checklist is what the reviewer marks against.

• What documents make up a complete submittal? For the SolarAPP+ (residential) path: the SolarAPP+ automated Approval Document, the SolarAPP+-generated inspection checklist, and a single-line drawing, emailed together to permittechnician@commerceca.gov. For a manual (non-SolarAPP+) building permit generally: a completed Permit Worksheet plus one signed Permit Declaration (Licensed Contractor's Declaration OR Owner-Builder Declaration). 85% · department page
• How many copies, and in what format? Electronic only (email) for the SolarAPP+ path -- no stated copy count; documents are emailed as attachments to permittechnician@commerceca.gov. Manual permits are submitted on the printed Permit Worksheet (1 of 2, both sides) plus one printed/signed declaration form. 70% · department page
• Is a one-line / three-line diagram required? Yes 92% · department page
• Are string and conductor calculations required? Likely yes, but not stated by the City itself -- string/conductor sizing and ampacity calculations are a standard, non-waivable part of the national SolarAPP+ automated review criteria (NREL), which the City has adopted as its residential solar review method. 55% · department page (inference re: SolarAPP+ platform)

Most authorities now take the whole application through a portal, and several states cap or constrain what a residential solar permit may cost. Check whether plan check is billed separately before you quote the job.

• Which permit portal does this authority use? SolarAPP+ (gosolarapp.org/login) for residential solar permits. General building permits also route through a Transtech-branded ePlanSoft electronic plan-check portal (gopost-transtech.eplansoftreview.com/#/login?portal=Commerce) or by email to permittechnician@commerceca.gov. 88% · department page
• Can the whole application be completed online? No 78% · department page
• How is the fee calculated? Valuation 65% · fee schedule
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? Yes 75% · fee schedule

Interconnection is a separate process from the permit and usually the longer pole. Where the utility does not depend on the permit being issued, running both at once is the single biggest saving available on a residential job.

• Which utility handles interconnection here? Southern California Edison (SCE) 92% · department page

The NEC edition a jurisdiction enforces is often a cycle behind the newest one published, and local amendments sit on top of it. Rapid shutdown, conductor sizing and labelling all change between editions, so the edition in force is the first thing to establish, not the last.

• Which NEC edition is in force? 2023 80% · department page (adoption cycle inference)
• Which building code edition is in force? 2025 California Building Code 92% · department page
• Which fire code edition is in force? 2023 LACFC (LA County's local amendments to the 2022 California Fire Code), per LACoFD's own 'Guide for ESS, PV, & Disconnects' (Rev. 3, effective 2023-09-01), which Commerce's own Building & Safety page links to for PV/ESS fire finals. 65% · county fire department guide
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes 75% · county fire department guide
• What is the installation judged against? The 2025 California Building/Electrical/Green/Mechanical/Plumbing/Residential Codes (City, effective 1/1/2026) for the building/electrical scope, plus the 2023 LACFC (LA County Fire Code local amendments to the 2022 CFC) for ESS, BIPV, and disconnect placarding, plus the national SolarAPP+ automated-review eligibility criteria (NREL) for the expedited residential path the City has adopted. 80% · department page + county fire department guide

Ridge setbacks and roof access pathways are fire-service requirements and they constrain the array layout. They are the most common cause of a redesign after the fire department comments on a plan set.

Nothing recorded for City of Commerce on this step yet — 1 question checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

Which rapid-shutdown rule applies follows directly from the NEC edition in force, and the initiation device has to be at a location the fire service can reach and identify. This is inspected, and it is labelled.

• Is rapid shutdown required, and to which NEC edition? Yes, rapid shutdown is required. LACoFD's Guide for ESS, PV, & Disconnects (dated 2023-09-01, citing the then-current 2022 CEC) requires a 'PV/BIPV Rapid Shutdown (RSD) function' and an activation-device placard as part of its Electrical Power Source Disconnect Placarding System (citing 2022 CEC Sec.225.37, Sec.230.70, Sec.230.85, Sec.705.10, Sec.705.20). The City's own base electrical code is now the 2025 CEC (built on the 2023 NEC), effective 1/1/2026. 78% · county fire department guide

The NEC sets a baseline for permanent markings at the service equipment and the disconnecting means. On top of that, an authority may specify its own wording, and the utility may specify more again. Where any of them writes its own text, a generic off-the-shelf label set will not pass — this is the detail most often fixed on a return visit.

• Which placards does this authority require at the service equipment? The LACoFD Electrical Power Source Disconnect Placarding System: an Exterior Placard (min. 2in x 3.5in) on/adjacent to each panel/enclosure containing a power-source disconnect, and a Panel-Interior Placard (min. 7/16in x 3/4in) inside the panel, both reading 'F.D. -- ELECTRICAL' with '#X of Y' designations. 88% · county fire department guide
• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? Yes 85% · county fire department guide
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? Red letters engraved into a yellow background; weather-resistant plastic; Exterior Placards minimum 2in tall x 3.5in wide, solid all-capitals Arial font, minimum font size 24 (bold for 'F.D.' and '#X of Y'); Panel-Interior Placards minimum 7/16in tall x 3/4in wide, same font style at a smaller size. 90% · county fire department guide
• Is a site plan / facility map placard required, and what must it show? No dedicated 'facility map' document is published; the LACoFD Electrical Power Source Disconnect Placarding System (citing 2022 CEC Sec.705.10/Sec.705.20) functions as the facility-map/placard requirement by requiring every power-source disconnect (utility, PV, ESS, generator, etc.) to be placarded with a sequential '#X of Y' designation, effectively mapping all disconnects at the service equipment. 68% · county fire department guide
• Where must the labels be placed? Exterior Placards: on or immediately adjacent to the exterior of the panel/enclosure containing the disconnect (additional exterior placards may be required by the fire code official where operating the 'Main' within a placarded panel is necessary). Panel-Interior Placards: inside the panel, next to the specific breaker/switch they identify. 82% · county fire department guide

Where the AC disconnect must sit relative to the meter is usually the utility's rule, not the building department's. Battery storage frequently carries its own permit, its own inspection and its own fire conditions.

• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Yes, permitted, with LACoFD-set limits: individual ESS units capped at 20 kWh; site aggregate capped at 80 kWh per location category (inside attached garage, inside detached garage, outdoors on exterior wall, outdoors on the ground -- each its own 80 kWh sub-cap). ESS listed/labeled solely for utility or commercial use may not be used residentially. Any ESS over 3 kWh (2023 LACFC Sec.1207.11) requires LACoFD plan submittal (unless state-exempted) and, in all cases, a mandatory LACoFD field inspection -- on top of whatever the City's own building/electrical permit covers. 88% · county fire department checklist
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? Delegated 78% · department form (Permit Worksheet) + county fire department guide

Booking is a portal, a phone call or an email depending on the authority, and the notice required is rarely zero. Book before the work is finished rather than after — the lead time, not the work, is usually what sets the date.

• How is an inspection booked? Portal 82% · department page

Some authorities inspect their own solar work; some delegate it, and a few do not inspect the PV equipment itself at all. Who is coming determines what they will look at.

• Does this AHJ perform its own final solar inspection? Delegated 88% · department page
• If delegated, to whom? Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), Fire Prevention Division 95% · department page

A rough-in or mid-roof inspection, where one is required, has to happen before the work it covers is closed up. Missing a stage means opening something back up, and it is the most expensive kind of correction.

• Which inspections are required, and in what order? At minimum: a City Building/Electrical final inspection (Building Inspector, Mon-Thu, city-side) and a separate LA County Fire Department final inspection, which must be scheduled and passed 'prior to use of the PV or ESS installation.' The City's own materials do not spell out a fixed numbered sequence beyond that the Fire final gates use of the system. 60% · department page

The approved plan set, the permit, and the equipment listings should be on site and reachable. Inspectors routinely verify that installed equipment matches what was approved, and that the labels are the ones the plan set promised.

• Is there a published inspection checklist? Yes 90% · county fire department checklist
• What must be on site at inspection? For the LACoFD fire final: digital proof of the construction permit obtained via the Expedited-Permitting Process (e.g. the SolarAPP+ approval), including any inspection checklist provided with the permit; the required disconnect placarding already in place; and LACoFD Fire Prevention fee(s) paid. 85% · county fire department checklist

Passing gives you a final or an equivalent sign-off. That is not the same as permission to operate: PTO comes from the utility, and who tells the utility the inspection passed varies. A system left switched off for weeks is usually waiting on this handover.

• What is issued on pass? Final 70% · county fire department checklist (inference)
• Is there a re-inspection fee? No solar-specific re-inspection fee line was found; a general hourly 'Additional reviews per hr. or fraction thereof' rate of $81.46, and a separate 'per-hour, per-plan-check' rate of $132.01 for services beyond the first two plan checks, appear in the Master Fee Schedule and could apply administratively, but neither is labeled a re-inspection fee. 62% · fee schedule