Electrician in Compton

What we do in Compton

Everything we do in Compton, with what each job usually involves here. The photos are from our own jobs.

Panel upgrades in Compton

Service upgrades for Compton's 1940s and 1950s houses, many still on panels sized for a much smaller household, with the city permit, the inspection and SCE's side coordinated in order.

More on panel upgradesCall (844) 430-7681

EV charger installation in Compton

Home chargers for postwar houses with detached garages or long driveways, beginning with a check of whether the original service can carry the load, and workplace chargers for shops and fleet yards.

More on EV charger installationCall (844) 430-7681

Electrical repair & troubleshooting in Compton

Tracking down tripping breakers, warm outlets and dead circuits in homes shared by more people than the wiring was planned for, and in older rental units where every tenant draws power at once.

More on electrical repair & troubleshootingCall (844) 430-7681

Rewiring in Compton

Replacing ungrounded two-wire circuits and patched-on additions in Compton's pre-1960 houses, room by room or for the whole house.

More on rewiringCall (844) 430-7681

Lighting & ceiling fans in Compton

Exterior lighting for Richland Farms yards, barns and driveways, LED retrofits for warehouses along the Alameda Corridor, and recessed and ceiling-fan work inside older homes.

More on lighting & ceiling fansCall (844) 430-7681

Outlets, GFCI & new circuits in Compton

Grounded and GFCI-protected outlets in place of two-prong ones, outdoor and barn receptacles on large lots, and 240-volt circuits for dryers, ranges and air conditioners.

More on outlets, GFCI & new circuitsCall (844) 430-7681

Mobilehome electrical in Compton

Repairs, added circuits and panel work for residents and owners in Compton's five mobile home parks, with the inspecting agency confirmed before work begins.

More on mobilehome electricalCall (844) 430-7681

Commercial electrical in Compton

Lighting, equipment circuits, panel changes and tenant improvements for warehouses, distribution buildings, shops and restaurants, including three-phase work along the Alameda Corridor where the building has it or needs it.

More on commercial electricalCall (844) 430-7681

Also: subpanels, dedicated circuits, 240-volt outlets for dryers and ranges, exterior and security lighting, hard-wired smoke alarms, and small repairs of every kind.

Working in Compton

Infinity Electrical is a licensed electrical contractor for homes and businesses in Compton, doing panel upgrades, EV chargers, rewiring, repairs and commercial work. Permits inside city limits come from the City of Compton's Building & Safety Department, and Southern California Edison owns the lines and the meter and, because Compton isn't in Clean Power Alliance, normally supplies the power too.

Compton is one of the older cities in the county, incorporated in May 1888, but most of its houses come from one fast stretch of growth. The city's housing element, adopted in February 2020 and using 2017 census survey estimates, puts 51.6% of the housing stock in the 1940 to 1959 period and another 12.9% before 1939; it says about 95% of homes were built before 2000. Wikipedia describes the city's streets as lined with relatively spacious single-family houses, and the housing element counts 69.2% of units as detached homes. That adds up to thousands of houses whose wiring was planned for a few lights, a refrigerator and a radio, now being asked to run air conditioning, a dryer, a modern kitchen and sometimes a car charger.

The same element reported that city staff estimated about 45 percent of Compton's housing units needed substantial rehabilitation, based on a 2011 survey, and that, in 2013 figures, overcrowding affected roughly 18% of owners and 32% of renters. A house with more people than it was built for runs more appliances at once, and old circuits show it first. Infinity Electrical Inc. (CSLB #1100231) looks at the panel, the meter and the wiring in person before writing an estimate. Census figures show 64.5% of Compton residents speak a language other than English at home, and customer assistance is available in English and Spanish.

What's common in Compton homes

Postwar single-family houses dominate Compton, with an agricultural enclave, a handful of mobile home parks and a large industrial and logistics economy each shaping the electrical work.

• The 1940s and 1950s houses. More than half of Compton's homes date from 1940 to 1959, according to the housing element. Houses of that age often still have small services, two-wire circuits without a ground and panels that have been added onto over the decades. Adding a heat pump, an induction range or a charger usually starts with a load calculation, which our article on heat pumps, induction and panel size explains.
• Richland Farms. NPR describes Richland Farms as a 10-block area that is the largest urban agricultural zone in the Los Angeles basin, created when Griffith Compton required that the land stay agricultural, with lots historically ranging from about half an acre to three acres. ABC7 reports that many properties exceed an acre and that residents keep horses, goats and chickens. On a lot that size, the work is often a long run to a barn, a tack room, a workshop or a well-lit yard, and outdoor circuits need GFCI protection and wiring suited to wet locations.
• Owners and renters. Census survey figures for 2020 to 2024 put Compton's owner-occupied rate at 56.4%, and the housing element counted about 2,200 duplex-to-fourplex units and about 2,700 units in buildings of five or more. In older small rentals, the electrical questions are often separate meters, worn-out panels and circuits that trip when every unit runs its air conditioner.
• Mobile homes. The housing element counts 720 mobile homes and says the city has 5 mobile home parks with 364 spaces for lower-income households. The state Department of Housing and Community Development is the default enforcement agency for mobilehome parks unless a local agency takes that role with its approval, so we confirm which office inspects a park before work starts.
• Warehouses, shops and the city's employers. Wikipedia notes that Ralphs and Food 4 Less are headquartered in Compton and that the Gateway Towne Center shopping plaza is in the city. Distribution buildings, retail units and restaurants are where lighting retrofits, equipment circuits and panel work come up; see commercial electrical work for what that involves.

Permits and power in Compton

Compton (ZIP codes 90220 to 90224) is an incorporated city with its own Building & Safety Department, on Willowbrook Avenue. Those ZIP codes don't always mean city jurisdiction: Wikipedia notes that unincorporated East Rancho Dominguez, also called East Compton, shares 90221 with the city, and unincorporated Willowbrook and West Rancho Dominguez border it as well. Those areas are permitted by Los Angeles County Public Works, so we confirm the jurisdiction from the parcel before quoting.

Permits. The city runs a Citizenserve online portal with a Building/Safety/PW application category and a lobby check-in for Building & Safety. The department's own residential plan check form says electrical permits are required in addition to a building permit when they apply, and that electrical plans for a remodel or addition go in together with the building plans. For a service change, a new circuit or a charger, we coordinate the permit and the inspection as part of the job.

Who supplies the power. SCE's list of community choice programs shows Clean Power Alliance serving Lynwood, Carson, Paramount and unincorporated Los Angeles County, and Compton is not on it; Clean Power Alliance's own residential rate page doesn't list Compton among its member communities either. So a Compton bill normally shows SCE for both the electricity and the delivery, while a bill a few blocks away in Lynwood or Willowbrook may name Clean Power Alliance as the supplier. In both cases Southern California Edison owns the service drop and the meter, so a panel upgrade or meter change is coordinated with SCE either way.

Industrial Compton. Wikipedia notes that the Alameda Corridor, the rail line carrying freight from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, runs north to south through the city, and the city's 2040 General Plan notice lists Compton Boulevard and Alameda Street as the plan's cross streets. Warehouses, distribution buildings and shops along that spine are where three-phase service comes up, where the building has it or needs it. Compton/Woodley Airport, a general aviation field on Alondra Boulevard, is also inside the city.

The permits and utilities guide explains the whole picture for the three counties we serve.

Around Compton

Compton is ringed by places with different rules. Long Beach, to the southeast, runs its own Building and Safety Bureau and is SCE territory with no community choice program. Lynwood, Carson and Paramount are separate cities with their own permit processes, and all three are Clean Power Alliance communities, so bills there may name CPA as the supplier while SCE still owns the lines and the meter. Willowbrook, West Rancho Dominguez and East Rancho Dominguez are unincorporated, so Los Angeles County Public Works issues permits, and as unincorporated county land they are also in Clean Power Alliance's service area. We confirm the permit office and the supplier for every address before quoting.

• Long Beach
• Lynwood
• Carson
• Paramount
• Willowbrook
• West Rancho Dominguez
• East Rancho Dominguez

See the full list of areas we cover across Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.