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San Diego: Recommendations for electricians to install 240V outlet in condo garage?

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In my ongoing research on dealing with the feasibility of buying a Model S, I have to deal with an HOA for my condo, and get board approval for any alterations to the common garage space to install power to my parking space.

Anybody been there done that already in the San Diego area? Any recommended companies that are already familiar with installing all the conduit and gear for a Tesla?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!
 
SD County Electrician

In my ongoing research on dealing with the feasibility of buying a Model S, I have to deal with an HOA for my condo, and get board approval for any alterations to the common garage space to install power to my parking space.

Anybody been there done that already in the San Diego area? Any recommended companies that are already familiar with installing all the conduit and gear for a Tesla?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Brian:

Several of us have used Robert Guillory with Calray Electric. You can Yelp him.
Can't help with condo regs, but Robert is great.

David
 
Brian:

Several of us have used Robert Guillory with Calray Electric. You can Yelp him.
Can't help with condo regs, but Robert is great.

David

Thanks David. Yeah the condo has a very small number of units and we're on the HOA board and its architectural committee, so I'm not concerned about condo regs. :)

I'd guess there's about 100 feet of conduit distance to run between my designated parking space and the electrical closet in the garage. So I am hoping this is a pretty simple job.

No idea what the cost might be though. What do these kind of jobs run? All I care about is putting in a 240V 40A NEMA 14-50 outlet (I'm not considering a HPWC), and hopefully connecting the other end to our unit's electrical meter. I hope this isn't thousands of dollars. Is it? I am a clueless newbie in these matters. :)
 
Update on Calray. I had Rob come out in *May* and inspect the site. No prob. Then he came out again on July 3 to get some numbers and measurements. No prob.

That was July 3. He told me then it'd be around 5 days to get SDGE and him in sync with the City of SD for permits to install a new meter. He said he thought it'd be 2 weeks and everything would be installed.

The 5 days came and went. Got an email on the 11th saying he's waiting on the city for info on the permit.

Now it's a week later and I've heard nothing more. I've emailed repeatedly for updates, left voicemails. No word from Rob. I'm tearing my hair out here. I keep holding off on placing a car order until I have the electrical approved by the city. But I am now wondering if I made a huge mistake going with Calray Electric. The wait is excruciating.

I'm also sitting on a good offer for my ICE, and that expires Saturday.

Arrrrghhh... Calray is not making me a happy camper.
 
UPDATE: Shortly after sending yet another email around the time I posted #5 above, I heard back from Robert.

Apparently the City wants to charge a $1000 fee for a permit to add a new meter. Argh. He said he thought they were charging the wrong fee, so he pushed back and got a better fee. Which I have yet to see. Am supposed to get an estimate for the project tonight. Fingers crossed.
 
@brianstorms,

Did you get any other updates? I also was interested in seeing what it will cost to get a dedicated TOU meter from SDGE put in my garage. I'm curious what the actual cost is for this to be done? I've looked on a few forums but I can't seem to find anyone that has done it or how much it costs. I emailed Calray to ask how much that would be but so far no response but I just emailed him yesterday. He has been VERY responsive for questions regarding installing my Charger but I'd love to find out how much it will cost to install a dedicated TOU meter for only the EV.
 
@brianstorms,

Did you get any other updates? I also was interested in seeing what it will cost to get a dedicated TOU meter from SDGE put in my garage. I'm curious what the actual cost is for this to be done? I've looked on a few forums but I can't seem to find anyone that has done it or how much it costs. I emailed Calray to ask how much that would be but so far no response but I just emailed him yesterday. He has been VERY responsive for questions regarding installing my Charger but I'd love to find out how much it will cost to install a dedicated TOU meter for only the EV.

I'm up in Orange County and I called Southern California Edison's EV Hotline and their specialist told me that they would provide a second meter at no charge but it would require a completely separate and dedicated breaker box and wiring. The costs that he had seen from clients ranged anywhere from $3000-$7000 for this!!!

It's $0.11kwh for the dedicated meter plan and at most in the dead of summer in Tier 4 it's $0.31kwh. I average around $0.22kwh for the year so the ROI on the separate meter was years for me. It just wasn't worth the hassle and cost so I had a certified electrian wire up a NEMA 14-50 in our garage for under $200. Done!
 
I'm up in Orange County and I called Southern California Edison's EV Hotline and their specialist told me that they would provide a second meter at no charge but it would require a completely separate and dedicated breaker box and wiring. The costs that he had seen from clients ranged anywhere from $3000-$7000 for this!!!

It's $0.11kwh for the dedicated meter plan and at most in the dead of summer in Tier 4 it's $0.31kwh. I average around $0.22kwh for the year so the ROI on the separate meter was years for me. It just wasn't worth the hassle and cost so I had a certified electrian wire up a NEMA 14-50 in our garage for under $200. Done!

Hi TommyBoy,

Thanks. Yes, like you, I've seen all kinds of wacky quotes online for the dedicated breaker box and wiring. But most of it is second hand information. I can't seem to find anyone that actually has done it. Absolutely I know the ROI probably won't pan out for many years going that route. But I'm in a unique position where I know I will NEVER sell my house and we'll be here for the long haul. Plus depending on how well things go with my first EV, I might switch over our Q7 TDI to a Model X and possibly other EV's so the dedicated breaker box/meter could make sense.

I guess I'll just have to wait to get it quoted out from an electrician, which all don't seem too motivated to go through that process. I'm definitely going to do the NEMA 14-50 in the garage but just trying to find real life ROI projections and costs for dedicated meter.

Thanks.
 
Hi TommyBoy,

Thanks. Yes, like you, I've seen all kinds of wacky quotes online for the dedicated breaker box and wiring. But most of it is second hand information. I can't seem to find anyone that actually has done it. Absolutely I know the ROI probably won't pan out for many years going that route. But I'm in a unique position where I know I will NEVER sell my house and we'll be here for the long haul. Plus depending on how well things go with my first EV, I might switch over our Q7 TDI to a Model X and possibly other EV's so the dedicated breaker box/meter could make sense.

I guess I'll just have to wait to get it quoted out from an electrician, which all don't seem too motivated to go through that process. I'm definitely going to do the NEMA 14-50 in the garage but just trying to find real life ROI projections and costs for dedicated meter.

Thanks.

Ah, ok. I understand what you are asking now. The range of prices from the SCE EV specialist were supposedly from customers that acutally had the meters installed but they could have just as easily been anecdotal. Please update when you have actual quotes. Heck, if it's under $1000 it's something to consider for me!
 
Ah, ok. I understand what you are asking now. The range of prices from the SCE EV specialist were supposedly from customers that acutally had the meters installed but they could have just as easily been anecdotal. Please update when you have actual quotes. Heck, if it's under $1000 it's something to consider for me!


Great. Sorry if I was confusing. This EV stuff is still new to me. I'm just trying to research what makes the most sense to me over the long run.

I may be the guinea pig here and I will keep the board posted if I do get the dedicated TOU second dedicated meter just for my car. But just looking at the estimates of what tier bills are, I think if the cost of installing the 2nd TOU dedicated meter isn't too much then it will actually be much better over the long run (especially if we end up buying another Tesla in the near future) to keep the standard rate for our normal electricity meter and just get the dedicated meter for the garage and ONLY run it at night during the cheapest rates.

That seems like it could really make sense and save some significant money. I already contacted two electricians and waiting to get detailed quotes and will post back. If the cost is less than $2,500 or so, I think I'll go ahead and do it and will post detailed blogs about it.
 
2 years ago, $1,000 in Orange CA for second meter with permits. SCE helpful. Daniel Dollom 909-276-7660 at electricfxcorp.com

Thanks laalan! Can I ask you how long did the "permit process" take up there in Orange County? And what did the permit process entail? Was it just a matter of your electrician working with the city directly? Was it relatively simple? End to end, how long did the process take? Also, how has the 2nd dedicated meter worked out for you? Do you regret your decision to have it installed?

Thanks so much.
 
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I walked into the city of orange permit office with a tough sketch and a check and a phone number for the SCE planner handling it. I was likely the first and once I explained it was for an ev rather than multi dwelling, they gave me the prelim on the spot. An hour in the office. They were also awesome on the approval needed for SCE to turn it on. Started work at 8am and power on the second box at noon with new meter. With 2 Electrics totaling 2000 miles per month, I am ahead of the game. Permit was less than $200 and electrician parts and labor was $800. Daniel was a really nice guy. Anyone that lets me watch and ask questions gets high marks in my book. Aerovironment would have been thousands more.
 
fyi to drivers in San Diego. SDG & E will allow a second meter downstream of your primary meter for EV charging and will do subtractive billing so that you don't have to install a second service at much greater expense. The second meter must be for your car and will be on the EV TOU rate and the house can stay on the existing rate...All your electrician has to do is install a breaker in the primary panel and run a branch circuit over to an exterior disconnect and meter "can" and then on to your EVSE or 14-50 style socket. The utility will install the second meter after the city inspects and approves the installation...

Another option is to switch to the whole house EV-TOU2 rate and keep your single meter and change it from the existing rate (mostly likely tiered DR rate) to the EV rate, which is time of use based. So you don't need a second meter to get the benefit of EV rates.
 
I walked into the city of orange permit office with a tough sketch and a check and a phone number for the SCE planner handling it. I was likely the first and once I explained it was for an ev rather than multi dwelling, they gave me the prelim on the spot. An hour in the office. They were also awesome on the approval needed for SCE to turn it on. Started work at 8am and power on the second box at noon with new meter. With 2 Electrics totaling 2000 miles per month, I am ahead of the game. Permit was less than $200 and electrician parts and labor was $800. Daniel was a really nice guy. Anyone that lets me watch and ask questions gets high marks in my book. Aerovironment would have been thousands more.

GREAT! Thanks again. Yes, your rationale for why you installed the 2nd dedicated meter is EXACTLY why I think it would be worth it. Thanks so much for that really helpful and informative information.

fyi to drivers in San Diego. SDG & E will allow a second meter downstream of your primary meter for EV charging and will do subtractive billing so that you don't have to install a second service at much greater expense. The second meter must be for your car and will be on the EV TOU rate and the house can stay on the existing rate...All your electrician has to do is install a breaker in the primary panel and run a branch circuit over to an exterior disconnect and meter "can" and then on to your EVSE or 14-50 style socket. The utility will install the second meter after the city inspects and approves the installation...

Another option is to switch to the whole house EV-TOU2 rate and keep your single meter and change it from the existing rate (mostly likely tiered DR rate) to the EV rate, which is time of use based. So you don't need a second meter to get the benefit of EV rates.

Great. Thanks for this information. See, this is what these boards are all about. I understand about the EV-TOU2 rate for the whole house but I'm speculating that going with the dedicated meter will end up being the better and more efficient system if you have 2 or more EV's. Really helpful information. Did you go with the dedicated 2nd meter with SDGE RandyS?
 
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My dual meter. Big box underneath meter is where SCE came in and did the tap for the second meter.