City of Industry

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% · authority department page
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? Delegated 90% · authority department page + county roster
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Yes 95% · county program page
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? Combined 78% · county department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? 38.4 kW AC nameplate rating (combined solar + ESS) is the ceiling for the Express (self-issued) path; systems above that, or that fail any other Express eligibility item, are not capped outright but instead route to the standard 'Solar Roof Mount Residential' permit with full plan check — so 38.4 kW AC is a gate on the expedited path, not a hard ceiling on residential generation. 88% · county department guide (PDF, images OCR'd/read directly)

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 82% · county program page + county process road map (PDF)
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? No 55% · county program page (absence)
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? Yes 85% · county process road map (PDF, extracted directly)

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? Express path (systems meeting the eligibility list): no plans — an online EPIC-LA application, a signed 'Acknowledgement' eligibility checklist (system size, code compliance, single dwelling/meter, one module/racking/mounting type, roof type, standoff height), and contractor-license or owner-builder affidavit (Form A/B/C) info. Systems that fail any eligibility item route instead to the standard 'Solar Roof Mount Residential' permit, which is 'submitted for plan check' — the specific plan-check submittal checklist for that non-Express path was not located. 68% · county department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• How many copies, and in what format? Electronic only — all submittals (Express and standard) go through the EPIC-LA online portal; no physical/paper copy count is specified for solar. 80% · county program page

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? EPIC-LA (Electronic Permitting and Inspections for the County of Los Angeles) at epicla.lacounty.gov — the same portal LA County Building & Safety uses for its own unincorporated territory and all its contract cities, including Industry. 95% · authority department page + county program page
• Can the whole application be completed online? Yes 82% · county process road map (PDF, extracted directly)
• What does a residential solar permit cost? Not a published flat amount — computed from the applicant-reported system valuation (job cost) entered into the county's DAPTS system against the County Building Valuation Fee Table, plus a flat $41.35 permit-issuance fee. Illustratively, at a $20,000 valuation (a plausible mid-size residential PV job cost) the table's 'Without Energy & Disabled Access Check, R-Occupancy' column shows a $580.81 permit fee (before the $41.35 issuance fee and any separate electrical Power-Apparatus charge for the inverter). 60% · fee schedule PDF (extracted directly)
• How is the fee calculated? Valuation 68% · fee schedule PDF (extracted directly)
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? Yes 85% · fee schedule PDF (extracted directly)

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.

• What is the stated plan-review turnaround? Same day / near-instant for the Express Solar Roof Mount Residential path — the permit 'auto-issues upon payment completion' once the EPIC-LA application and fee are submitted. No published SLA figure was found for the standard (non-Express) plan-check path. 78% · county program page
• Which utility handles interconnection here? Industry Public Utilities (IPU) — the City of Industry's own municipally-owned electric system, NOT Southern California Edison, serving 'portions of business and residential properties within the City.' 90% · authority 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 NEC — adopted as the '2026 County of Los Angeles Electrical Code (Title 27)', part of the 2025 California Electrical Code cycle, effective January 1, 2026. 85% · county department page (raw HTML, extracted directly)
• Which building code edition is in force? 2025 California Building Code cycle, adopted as the '2026 County of Los Angeles Building Code (Title 26)', effective January 1, 2026 (Residential Code is the parallel '2026 County of Los Angeles Residential Code, Title 30'). 88% · county department page (raw HTML, extracted directly)
• Which fire code edition is in force? 2023 LACFC (Los Angeles County Fire Code) — the local LA County amendments layered on the 2022 California Fire Code. This is what LACoFD's own current PV/ESS guidance (dated 2023-09-01) cites as governing; it may not yet reflect a newer statewide fire-code cycle since Fire's adoption calendar runs separately from Building & Safety's Title 26-33 codes. 75% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? Yes 85% · county department page
• What is the installation judged against? Text — installation is judged against the 2025-cycle California Building/Residential/Electrical Codes as locally amended into LA County Code Titles 26/27/30 (effective 1/1/2026) for structural and electrical scope, plus the 2023 LACFC (2022 CFC + LA County amendments) for ESS, BIPV, and disconnect/placarding scope enforced directly by LACoFD. 80% · county department page + 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 Industry 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 — NEC 690.12 rapid shutdown, in force via the 2023 NEC/2025 CEC cycle. LACoFD's own placarding system separately requires that 'where any Rapid Shutdown or Hazard Control System function is present at the site, an initiation device for each such function shall be included among the placarded disconnects,' and its inspection checklist has a dedicated line for 'Rapid-Shutdown attenuation devices, and associated placarding.' 82% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)

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? LACoFD's 'Electrical Power Source Disconnect Placarding System': (1) an exterior placard reading 'F.D. – ELECTRICAL / BLDG DISCONNECT / #X of Y' on or immediately adjacent to each panel/enclosure or standalone disconnect switch that must be operated, and (2) a smaller panel-interior placard identifying specific switches/breakers within a shared panel. Rapid -shutdown initiation devices are folded into the same '#X of Y' numbering scheme. 92% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? Yes 92% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? Yes — red letters engraved into a yellow background. Exterior placards: minimum 2 in. tall x 3.5 in. wide weather-resistant plastic, Arial all-caps, minimum font size 24 (28 bold for 'F.D.' and '#X of Y'), attached with permanent epoxy. Panel-interior placards: minimum 7/16 in. tall x 3/4 in. wide, same material/colour, Arial all-caps bold, minimum font size 24. 92% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• Is a site plan / facility map placard required, and what must it show? Partial — no separate freestanding 'facility map' placard requirement was found. LACoFD's submittal requirements call for a site/roof drawing showing 'graphic locations with notations of all Utility Meter(s), AC & DC Disconnects, Inverters' and rapid-shutdown initiation points, but this is a plan-review drawing requirement, not a posted NEC-705.10-style facility placard distinct from the disconnect placards themselves. 60% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• Where must the labels be placed? Exterior placards go on or immediately adjacent to each panel/enclosure or standalone disconnect switch that must be operated (additional placards required where an enclosure houses multiple panels, or more than the 'Main' must be operated); panel-interior placards go inside a panel to identify specific switches/breakers when more than one within that panel must be operated. 90% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)

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.

• Must equipment be on a specific approved list? Yes 80% · fire department inspection checklist (PDF, extracted directly)
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Yes, under detailed conditions (LACFC §1207.11, Group R-3/R-4): individual ESS units capped at 20 kWh nameplate rating; aggregate rating per occupancy capped at 80 kWh whether inside an attached/detached garage, on the outer side of exterior walls, or outdoors on the ground (each location category its own 80 kWh ceiling); ESS is prohibited inside dwelling units, sleeping units/rooms, closets, bathrooms, basements, non-garage accessory structures and vaults; outdoor/exterior-wall units need 5 ft from lot lines/public ways/other buildings/combustibles, 10 ft from vegetation, and 3 ft from doors/windows/HVAC intakes; units need 3 ft of mutual spacing unless tested otherwise. 92% · fire department guide (PDF, extracted directly)
• Is there a separate ESS permit or inspection? Yes — ESS with a capacity over 3 kWh requires its own LACoFD plan submittal (except where state-mandate-exempted) and a separate LACoFD field inspection, in addition to whatever Building & Safety performs for the PV array itself; this is 'in all cases,' independent of system size, per the checklist's own general-advisory section. 90% · fire department inspection checklist (PDF, extracted directly)
• Is a specific mounting system or attachment spacing required? Text — for the Express path, BSD's own eligibility list requires: PV modules installed no more than 24 inches above the roof; only one module type, one racking-system type, and one mounting-hardware type; no more than two central inverter models (or one model for micro-inverter/AC-module systems); not installed on a metal roof, a carport, or any non-permanent structure; and no wood shake or wood shingle roofing. No numeric attachment-spacing figure (e.g., inches on-center) was found. 75% · county department guide (PDF, images read directly)

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 (EPIC-LA) for the Building & Safety final PV inspection — scheduled online per the solar road map. Where an LACoFD fire inspection is separately triggered (ESS >3 kWh, qualifying BIPV, or disconnect/rapid-shutdown placarding), that inspection is booked by Phone + Email directly with the appropriate LACoFD Regional Inspection Office, not through EPIC-LA. 82% · county process road map (PDF) + fire department inspection checklist (PDF)
• How much notice is required? At least 24 hours for the Building & Safety inspection ('All inspection requests must be made at least 24 hours in advance'). LACoFD does not state a fixed lead time for its own PV/ESS field inspection, but requires the invoice to be paid before the visit or the inspection is cancelled and must be rescheduled. 78% · county 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% · fire department guide (PDF) + county department page
• If delegated, to whom? LA County Public Works, Building and Safety Division (structural/electrical PV final) and LA County Fire Department / LACoFD Fire Prevention Division (ESS >3 kWh, qualifying BIPV, and all disconnect/rapid-shutdown placarding, regardless of system size). 90% · authority department page + fire department guide

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? Text — (1) Apply and pay via EPIC-LA (Express path auto-issues; standard path goes through plan check, correction cycles, and agency-clearance verification before permit issuance); (2) construction; (3) Building & Safety final inspection, scheduled online via EPIC-LA, repeated until the permit is 'Finaled'; (4) where triggered (ESS >3 kWh, qualifying BIPV, or disconnect/rapid-shutdown placarding), a separate LACoFD field inspection booked directly with the LACoFD Regional Inspection Office by phone/email, with its own invoice paid in advance. 80% · county process road map (PDF) + fire department inspection checklist (PDF)

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 92% · fire department inspection checklist (PDF, extracted directly)
• What must be on site at inspection? Text — plans/specifications, the issued permit, and (where provided) the inspection record card must be available at the job site for the Building & Safety inspection; for any triggered LACoFD field inspection, digital proof of the underlying construction permit (e.g., the Express/SolarAPP+ record) and, for ESS, cut/spec sheets for the ESS unit(s) and inverter(s) (with full installation manual on request) must be immediately available. 82% · county department page + fire department inspection checklist (PDF)
• Does the inspector verify labels and listings? Yes 82% · fire department inspection checklist (PDF, extracted directly)

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 75% · county process road map (PDF) + county department page
• Is there a re-inspection fee? No named 're-inspection fee' line exists in the current Building or Electrical Code Fee Schedules (control-checked); the closest applicable charge is the standard $147.02/hour rate BSD's own Building Code Fee Schedule sets 'for inspections for which no fee is specifically indicated' — this is what would likely apply to a repeat solar inspection, but it is not a solar-specific or explicitly-named re-inspection charge. 55% · fee schedule PDF (extracted directly)
• How are corrections issued and cleared? Corrections are downloaded from and re-uploaded to EPIC-LA: the applicant downloads plan -check correction files, addresses each comment, uploads revised documents, and the case is placed back in the review queue; this repeats ('Not Cleared' loop) until the reviewer marks it 'Cleared.' 82% · county process road map (PDF, extracted directly)