Electrician in Downey

What we do in Downey

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

Panel upgrades in Downey

Service upgrades for Downey's older houses, applied for online through the city's Accela portal when the change-out is 400 amps or less, with the inspection and SCE's portal request coordinated in order.

More on panel upgradesCall (844) 430-7681

EV charger installation in Downey

Home and apartment chargers in Downey, starting with a load calculation on the existing panel and a check with the Building Division on what the permit needs, since chargers are not on the city's online-permit list.

More on EV charger installationCall (844) 430-7681

Electrical repair & troubleshooting in Downey

Tracking down tripping breakers, warm outlets and dead circuits in postwar houses and in the older apartment buildings that make up more than a third of Downey's housing.

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

Rewiring in Downey

Rewiring houses from Downey's postwar building boom, room by room or whole-house, with the city's rough-wiring inspection done before walls are closed.

More on rewiringCall (844) 430-7681

Lighting & ceiling fans in Downey

Recessed, exterior and landscape lighting for remodeled Downey homes, and LED updates for shops, restaurants and offices near Stonewood Center and the medical centers.

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

Outlets, GFCI & new circuits in Downey

Grounded and GFCI-protected outlets in place of two-prong ones, and new 240-volt circuits for heat pumps, dryers and induction ranges in houses that were wired before any of them existed.

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

Mobilehome electrical in Downey

Repairs, added circuits and panel work for mobile home residents and park owners in Downey, with the inspecting agency confirmed first under the state's mobilehome park rules.

More on mobilehome electricalCall (844) 430-7681

Commercial electrical in Downey

Tenant improvements, dedicated circuits, lighting and panel work for medical suites, retail and offices, with permits issued only to California-licensed contractors who hold a current Downey business license, and three-phase work where the building has 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 Downey

Infinity Electrical is a licensed electrical contractor that takes on panel upgrades, EV chargers, rewiring, repairs and commercial electrical work in Downey. Electrical permits are issued by the City of Downey's Building & Safety Division at City Hall, and Southern California Edison owns the lines and meter, while Clean Power Alliance is the city's default supplier of the energy itself.

Downey grew up fast. The city's own history says it was the 50th city in Los Angeles County when it incorporated on December 17, 1956, with roughly 90,000 residents, and that it had some of the finest new homes in Southeastern Los Angeles County at the time. Wikipedia describes how postwar subdivisions replaced the old farms and citrus groves. Houses from that era were wired for a kitchen, a washer and maybe a window air conditioner, not for an EV charger, a heat pump and a 240-volt induction range on the same service.

The housing element counts 35,838 housing units in 2020, about 61.5% of them single-family homes and 37.5% in multi-family buildings, and the Census Bureau puts the owner-occupied rate at 51.1% for 2020 to 2024. That makes many Downey homes rentals, where electrical work is arranged by the owner or property manager rather than the person living there. Infinity Electrical Inc. (CSLB #1100231) checks the panel, the meter location and the loads you are planning in person before an estimate is written. Customer assistance is available in English and Spanish.

What's common in Downey homes

Downey is mostly a postwar city, with older single-family houses, apartment buildings, a large medical and retail employment base and a small number of mobile homes, and each brings its own electrical questions.

• Postwar houses. Much of Downey was built out in the years around its 1956 incorporation, and many houses from that period still have services sized for their era, some with panels that were added onto over the decades. Before a remodel, an ADU, a heat pump or a charger, a load calculation tells us whether the service has room.
• Apartment buildings. The housing element counts 13,439 multi-family units, about 37.5% of the city's housing. Older apartment buildings often come with meter banks, small unit panels and two-prong outlets. With the owner or property manager, the work is usually GFCI protection, kitchen and laundry circuits and tracing breakers that trip.
• Accessory dwelling units. The housing element lists ADUs as allowed by right in the R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-3-O zones and expects them to keep adding to the city's housing. A backyard unit usually means a new subpanel and a feeder from the main service, and on an older lot that often starts with the main panel.
• Mobile homes. The housing element counts 368 mobile home and other units, about 1% of the housing stock. The state's Department of Housing and Community Development is the enforcement agency for mobilehome parks unless a local agency has taken that role with HCD's approval, so we confirm who inspects before work in a park begins.
• Hospitals, the mall and the old aerospace plant. Wikipedia's list of Downey's largest employers, from the city's 2024 financial report, is led by Kaiser Permanente, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and Stonewood Center, with Coca-Cola Refreshments, PIH Health Hospital – Downey and county offices also on it. The former Rockwell plant site, where Apollo and Space Shuttle systems were built, now holds the Columbia Memorial Space Center, shopping centers and a Kaiser hospital. Medical suites, restaurants, shops and offices around those sites are where tenant lighting, dedicated circuits and panel changes come up.

Permits and power in Downey

Downey (ZIP codes 90240, 90241 and 90242; 90239 is a post office box ZIP) is an incorporated city of about 12.4 square miles that runs its own Building & Safety Division. Its borders are drawn by other cities: South Gate and Bell Gardens to the west, Pico Rivera to the northeast, Santa Fe Springs and Norwalk to the east, and Paramount and Bellflower to the south, according to Wikipedia. Mailing addresses near those edges do not always match the city line, so we confirm the parcel's city before quoting, because that decides which building department issues the permit and which power supplier shows on the bill.

Permits in Downey. The Building & Safety Division works from the first floor of Downey City Hall. Its permit information page lists a short set of jobs that can be issued online through the city's Accela Citizen Access portal, and electrical panel change-outs up to 400 amps are on it. Other electrical permits are issued at the counter. For commercial, industrial and multi-unit residential projects, the city issues permits only to California-licensed contractors, and a contractor pulling a permit needs a current City of Downey business license. The division's FAQ says inspections are requested online through the same portal, from the underground conduit inspection to rough wiring before anything is covered and the final once fixtures and equipment are connected. We coordinate the permit and those inspections as part of the job.

EV chargers. The city's online permit list does not name EV chargers, so for a home or apartment charger we confirm with the Building Division which application and plan, if any, it wants before scheduling. The Building and Safety FAQ says new circuits and new or replaced panels generally need a permit, and a dedicated charger circuit falls under that. The bigger question is usually the panel: in an older Downey house, a load calculation decides whether the charger fits on the existing service or needs a panel upgrade first.

Edison and Clean Power Alliance. The City Council voted on October 24, 2017, to join Clean Power Alliance, and the city's page says Downey chose the Clean Power 50% renewable level as its default, with customers moved over in February 2019 and free to choose another tier or opt out. SCE still delivers the power over its poles and lines, reads the meter and sends one bill with CPA's generation charges on it. For a panel job the supplier changes nothing: on an existing service, SCE takes a panel upgrade or meter spot through its Building, Renovation and Project Planning Portal, and removing or relocating SCE equipment is arranged by phone. We line up that step with the city inspection.

Solar on the roof. Downey issues residential solar permits reviewed through SolarAPP+ on its online portal, and its FAQ notes a separate PV permit when an existing system is removed and reinstalled, for example during a re-roof. Infinity Electrical does not install solar. If your house already has panels, the panel, charger or circuit work we do is planned around that system.

No local historic district review to plan around. The Los Angeles Conservancy's community preservation scorecard gives Downey zero points for a historic preservation ordinance, a Mills Act program or active landmark designation, even though the city has well-known buildings such as its early McDonald's and Rancho Los Amigos. In practice that means a meter relocation or exterior conduit on a Downey house is usually a building-code question rather than a preservation one, though it is still worth checking with the city when the work is visible from the street.

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

Around Downey

Each city around Downey has its own building department, and all of them are on SCE's service-territory list, but the power supplier differs. Paramount, to the south, is a Clean Power Alliance member like Downey. Pico Rivera, to the northeast, runs its own community choice program, Pico Rivera Innovative Municipal Energy (PRIME), with SCE still delivering the power. Norwalk, Bellflower, South Gate, Santa Fe Springs and Bell Gardens are not on CPA's list of communities, so a bill there normally shows SCE for the energy too. Farther south, our Long Beach and Compton pages cover other Gateway-area cities.

• Norwalk
• Bellflower
• South Gate
• Pico Rivera
• Paramount
• Santa Fe Springs
• Bell Gardens

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