Solar Panel Installation in Bel Air & Brentwood, CA
Solar, battery storage and EV charging for the Westside hills — where your
utility is LADWP, not Edison, and that single fact changes the math on your whole system.
LA Solar Group has installed solar across Los Angeles County since 2010, from our yard at
8484 San Fernando Road in Sun Valley. Bel Air and Brentwood sit inside Los Angeles city limits,
which puts them on LADWP power and LADBS permitting — a different program, a different permit
office and a different export credit than the Edison territory a few blocks east. Most of both
neighborhoods also sits inside a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, which changes the hardware.
- LADWP net metering and interconnection handled end to end
- LADBS permitting through PermitLA and ePlanLA — we file it
- Battery storage sized for hillside outages and PSPS events
- Level 2 EV chargers, including the separate EV meter LADWP’s rebate requires
- Wind-rated mounting and Chapter 7A-compliant detailing for canyon and ridgeline roofs
Get a Bel Air or Brentwood solar quote
A real designer reviews your roof and your LADWP bill — not an instant guess.
You are on LADWP. NEM 3.0 does not apply to you.
Why this matters more than anything else on this page
California’s net billing tariff — the rule everyone calls NEM 3.0, the one that cut export
credits by roughly three quarters — came from a California Public Utilities Commission decision.
The CPUC regulates investor-owned utilities: PG&E, Southern California Edison and SDG&E.
LADWP is a municipal utility owned by the City of Los Angeles. The CPUC does not
regulate it, and LADWP has not adopted the net billing tariff. Bel Air and Brentwood are
inside city limits, so you are on LADWP’s own Net Energy Metering rider instead.
Under that rider, when you send more energy to the grid than you take in
a billing period, LADWP calculates your credit using the applicable Rate Schedule energy
pricing — your own retail energy rate, not a separate low export rate. Credit balances carry
forward onto each subsequent bill until they are used up.
The practical consequence: a Bel Air or Brentwood homeowner gets meaningfully more value from an
exported kilowatt-hour than a Beverly Hills homeowner three miles away on Edison. It usually means a
larger array pencils out here than a net-billing quote would suggest, and it changes the honest
answer on batteries — see below.
Eligibility
LADWP’s NEM rider covers customer-owned, permanently installed solar, wind, or hybrid
generating facilities up to 1 megawatt on the customer’s own premises, operating
in parallel with LADWP’s grid and primarily offsetting the customer’s own use.
The 10 kW line
Systems over 10 kW nameplate require a signed Solar-Powered Customer
Generation Interconnection Agreement with LADWP. Plenty of Bel Air and Brentwood roofs land
above that line, so this is a normal step here, not an exception.
What credits do not do
Credit balances roll forward, but they are not a cash payout. If a credit balance is still
sitting there when you close the account, LADWP zeroes it and owes nothing further. Design to
offset your own use — not to bank a refund.
Source: LADWP Net Energy Metering Rider, published electric rates.
Program terms can change — we confirm current LADWP rules on every design.
Three steps from first call to switch-on
Roof and bill review
We pull 12 months of LADWP billing, measure the roof and run the shade study — which on a
Mandeville or Kenter canyon lot with mature sycamores is the number that decides system size,
not square footage of roof.
LADBS permit, LADWP interconnection
We produce the plan set and file with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety
through the City’s online systems, then submit the LADWP interconnection application to get your
work request number and net meter.
Install, inspection, permission to operate
Install, LADBS inspection, then LADWP sets the bi-directional meter and issues permission to
operate. We handle the paperwork at every stage.
Batteries in Bel Air and Brentwood: the honest case
A lot of solar companies sell batteries here using the Edison argument — “export credits are
terrible now, so store your power instead.” That argument does not apply to you.
On LADWP’s net metering rider your exports are credited at your own retail energy pricing, so
storing a kilowatt-hour instead of exporting it does not create the same arbitrage it does in
Edison territory.
The real reasons a battery earns its cost on these two hillsides are different, and they are
better ones:
A grid-tied array shuts off when the grid does
This surprises people every single time. For the safety of line crews, a standard grid-tied
solar system disconnects during an outage — by design. Without a battery, your panels produce
nothing on the exact day the power is out. In a canyon on a red-flag wind day, that is the day
you actually wanted them.
Fire-season outages are the local reality
Bel Air and Brentwood sit in terrain where wind events, fire activity and precautionary
shutoffs are a normal part of the calendar, not a freak occurrence. Backup power for the well
pump, the fridge, the medical equipment and the gate motor has value that has nothing to do with
your bill.
Whole-home vs. critical loads
The design decision most quotes skip. Backing up an entire Brentwood Park house takes far
more storage than backing up a critical-loads subpanel. We price both so you can see the
difference instead of being sold the bigger one by default.
SGIP through LADWP
LADWP runs a Self-Generation Incentive Program that provides financial incentives toward
solar and battery storage for qualified residential customers. Eligibility rules are specific —
we check whether your property and situation actually qualify before it goes in a proposal.
We install Tesla Powerwall and other battery platforms. The right one depends on
your backup load, your panel and your available wall or pad space — not on which brand a salesperson
is pushing this quarter.
EV chargers, and the LADWP rebate rule that trips people up
LADWP runs a Residential EV Charger Rebate Program open to account holders with an active
residential electric meter. The requirements are where most homeowners get caught out:
The charger needs its own meter
To qualify, the EV charger must be separately metered from your main meter,
and that EV meter has to be on a Time-of-Use rate. This is not a detail you can add later
cheaply — it belongs in the electrical design from day one.
Licensed electrician, or no install credit
You can only claim installation costs if the work was performed by a licensed electrician.
A handyman install disqualifies that portion of the rebate.
Six-month window
The rebate application has to go in within six months of the installation date.
New or refurbished matters too — resold, used, rebuilt, warranty-replacement, gifted and
prize-won chargers are not eligible.
There is a second, separate LADWP program for the vehicle itself: a Used Electric Vehicle Rebate
of up to $1,500 for customers whose primary residence is served by LADWP, rising to up to $4,000 for
households enrolled in EZ-SAVE or Lifeline at the time of purchase, with a 12-month application window.
That one is about the car, not the charger, but it is worth knowing about while you are planning.
Do the panel upgrade once
Solar, a battery, a Level 2 charger and a separate EV meter all land on the same main service
panel. Older Bel Air and Brentwood homes frequently need that panel upgraded, and doing it once —
sized for everything you plan to add over the next decade — costs far less than doing it three
times. If you are getting solar now and an EV later, tell us now.
Source: LADWP Electric Vehicles programs and rebates.
Rebate amounts and rules change — confirm current terms with LADWP before you buy.
Almost all of Bel Air and Brentwood is in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone
When CAL FIRE released its recommended fire hazard severity zone maps for Los Angeles on
March 24, 2025, Bel Air, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and effectively the whole
spine of the Santa Monica Mountains stayed inside a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.
For a solar and battery customer that has real consequences on the install, not just on your
insurance renewal:
Chapter 7A materials
Construction in a VHFHSZ has to use Chapter 7A-compliant assemblies — Class A fire-rated
roofing, enclosed eaves, ember-resistant vents, and non-combustible detailing. If your array
goes on with a re-roof, the roof itself has to meet these standards.
Roof access and setbacks
The Los Angeles Fire Department enforces access pathways and ridge setbacks around rooftop
arrays so crews can work the roof. On a small or complex hillside roof this genuinely reduces
usable panel area, and any layout that ignores it fails inspection.
Wind, not just fire
Ridgeline and canyon-rim properties see wind loads that a flat inland roof never sees.
Mounting has to be engineered for the actual exposure category, which is a different racking
spec and a different attachment count.
Access for the crew
Mandeville, Kenter, Sullivan and the upper Bel Air roads are narrow, steep and often gated.
Material delivery and equipment staging get planned before the crew shows up, or the job stalls
on day one.
Source: Los Angeles GeoHub — Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
We check your specific parcel against the current map before designing.
Talk to a designer who knows LADWP interconnection
Bel Air and Brentwood are not one job
These two neighborhoods cover wildly different terrain and roof types, and the pocket you live in
usually decides the design before we get anywhere near panel selection.
Upper Bel Air & the canyon roads
Steep lots, long private driveways, gates, and roofs that are often partly shaded by the
hillside itself rather than by trees. Terrain shading is modeled differently from tree shading,
and getting it wrong is the single most common reason a system underproduces its estimate.
Bel Air East Gate & West Gate
Larger estate roofs with complex rooflines, multiple planes and frequent architectural
restrictions on what can be visible from the street or from neighbouring view corridors.
Equipment placement is as much of the design conversation as production.
Brentwood Park & the flats
Level lots, big traditional homes, and heavy mature tree canopy. Roof space is rarely the
constraint here — the shade study is. Tile roofs need tile-replacement mounts, not standard
composition flashing.
Mandeville, Kenter & Sullivan Canyons
Real terrain shading, genuine wind exposure, narrow access roads, and the strongest case for
battery backup anywhere on the Westside. These are the properties where an outage is not
hypothetical.
Brentwood’s split personality
Brentwood runs from flat, tree-heavy streets south of Sunset up into canyon terrain north of it.
A quote built for one half of Brentwood is frequently wrong for the other half — different shading
model, different mounting spec, different battery argument. Ask any bidder which half of Brentwood
their production estimate assumed.
What these jobs actually cost
Everyone else says “free estimates.” We publish real systems with real numbers.
Same fields as the Beverly Hills page: neighborhood · roof type · system size (kW) · panel count and
wattage · battery model and count · net price the customer paid · days on roof ·
contract-to-PTO days · before and after photos. A canyon or hillside job leads best here.
Same fields. A Brentwood flats job with heavy tree shade makes a strong contrast to a canyon job —
different constraint, different design answer.
Same fields. A job that combined an array, storage and a Level 2 charger with a panel upgrade shows
the full scope and justifies doing the panel once.
These blocks are the highest-value content on this page. Send the three jobs and we
drop them in — the Beverly Hills page has the format.
★★★★★
What Westside homeowners say
Paste 3 real Google reviews here — reviewer name, star rating, and the quote as written.
Do not add
AggregateRating or Review schema until these are real reviews;fabricated review markup is a manual-action risk.
How to compare solar bids in Bel Air and Brentwood
Ask whether their proposal assumed NEM 3.0
If a bidder’s savings model uses net billing export rates, they modeled you as an Edison
customer. You are not one. That proposal is wrong in a way that changes the recommended system
size and the battery recommendation.
Ask to see the shade study
On canyon lots and tree-heavy flats, a proposal without a shade model is a guess. Ask what
software produced it and to see the modeled shading losses month by month.
Verify the licence before you sign
Every California contractor’s licence is public at cslb.ca.gov, including whether the bond
and workers’ comp are current. Check it on all three bids, not just the cheapest.
Where we work on the Westside
Our yard, and solar projects across Bel Air, Brentwood and the surrounding hills.
Build a My Map at google.com/mymaps with a pin on 8484 San Fernando Rd and pins on 6–10 real
completed installs across Bel Air, Brentwood and the Westside, then paste the embed iframe here.
Permits and paperwork
Bel Air and Brentwood addresses are inside the City of Los Angeles, so residential solar permits
go to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. The City handles permitting
online: simple projects that do not require a plan review can be applied for directly through
PermitLA, while projects that need plans go through ePlanLA. Both require a registered Angeleno
account, and both are also available in person at a Development Services Center.
Separately from the building permit, the system has to be interconnected with LADWP. That means a
net metering application, an interconnection work request number, and — for anything over 10 kW
nameplate — a signed Solar-Powered Customer Generation Interconnection Agreement. We file both
tracks, because a permitted system that LADWP has not authorised to operate is just an expensive
roof ornament.
What we’ll need from you
- 12 months of LADWP billing, or your LADWP account login
- Proof of ownership, and for HOA-governed properties the architectural guidelines
- Roof age and any existing roof warranty documentation
- Photos of your main service panel, and gate or access codes for the crew
Request a Bel Air or Brentwood solar quote
Bel Air and Brentwood solar questions
Is Bel Air on LADWP or Southern California Edison?
LADWP. Bel Air and Brentwood are inside the City of Los Angeles, so power comes from the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power, a municipal utility owned by the city. Neighbouring cities
such as Beverly Hills are served by Southern California Edison instead, which is why solar advice
that works one mile away can be wrong here.
Does NEM 3.0 apply to my solar system in Bel Air or Brentwood?
No. The net billing tariff commonly called NEM 3.0 came from a California Public Utilities
Commission decision, and the CPUC regulates investor-owned utilities — PG&E, Southern California
Edison and SDG&E. LADWP is a municipal utility outside CPUC jurisdiction and has not adopted the
net billing tariff. LADWP customers are on LADWP’s own Net Energy Metering rider.
How does LADWP credit the solar power I export?
Under LADWP’s published Net Energy Metering rider, if you generate more than LADWP supplies over
a billing period, the credit for the energy received is calculated using the applicable Rate
Schedule energy pricing, and any resulting credit balance is applied to subsequent bills until it
is used up. Credit balances are not paid out in cash — if a balance remains when you close the
account, it is adjusted to zero.
What size solar system can I install on LADWP?
LADWP’s net metering rider covers customer-owned generating facilities up to one megawatt on the
customer’s premises. Systems over 10 kW nameplate capacity require a signed Solar-Powered Customer
Generation Interconnection Agreement with LADWP, which is a routine step for larger Bel Air and
Brentwood roofs.
Do I need a battery if I’m on LADWP net metering?
Not for the export-rate reason people give in Edison territory — LADWP credits exports at your
applicable retail energy pricing, so storing instead of exporting does not create the same savings
gap. The reason batteries matter in Bel Air and Brentwood is outages: a grid-tied array without
storage shuts down during a power outage by design, so it produces nothing on a red-flag day.
LADWP also runs a Self-Generation Incentive Program offering incentives toward solar and storage
for qualified residential customers.
Is my Bel Air or Brentwood home in a fire hazard zone?
Most likely yes. CAL FIRE’s recommended maps released on March 24, 2025 kept Bel Air, Brentwood,
the Palisades and essentially the whole spine of the Santa Monica Mountains inside a Very High Fire
Hazard Severity Zone. That affects roofing and materials under Chapter 7A, fire-department roof
access pathways around the array, and mounting specification for wind. We check your specific
parcel against the current map.
Where do I get a solar permit in Bel Air or Brentwood?
From the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, because both neighbourhoods are inside
Los Angeles city limits. The City handles permits online — PermitLA for projects that do not
require plan review and ePlanLA for those that do, both requiring a registered Angeleno account —
and in person at a Development Services Center. We pull the permit as part of the job.
Can I get a rebate for a home EV charger on LADWP?
LADWP runs a Residential EV Charger Rebate Program for account holders with an active
residential electric meter. The key conditions are that the charger must be separately metered from
your main meter with that EV meter on a Time-of-Use rate, installation costs are only claimable if
the work was done by a licensed electrician, and the application must be submitted within six months
of installation. Used, refurbished, gifted or prize-won chargers do not qualify.
Can you replace my roof at the same time?
Yes. If the roof has less than roughly ten years of life left, replacing it before the array goes
on costs less than removing and reinstalling panels later. In a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone
the replacement roof also has to meet Chapter 7A requirements, so it is worth doing both under one
contract and one crew sequence. See our roofing services.
Related services and nearby areas
Services
Residential solar installation
Battery storage & Powerwall
EV charger installation
Solar-ready roofing
Nearby areas
Swap placeholder URLs for real slugs on la-solargroup.com
before publishing, and add links back to this page from the homepage and the service-area hub.
Still have questions?
Talk to a designer who has permitted with LADBS and interconnected with LADWP.
