Ready to Apply?

Pre-Application Preparation:
 

1.Need help getting started? Request a no-cost consultation with a Transportation Electrification (TE) specialist here: Transportation Electrification Advisory Services - EV Readiness Form

2. Ready to Apply? Submit your application here: Building, Renovation, and Project Planning Portal (BRP3)

3.Review all the items below to determine process and requirements.

4.Review all documents below within Forms and Resources.
 

Rule 29 Requirements/ Prerequisites:

1. Review the Rule 29 Tariff Book.

2. Review the Rule 29 Sample Agreement required for participation. Redlines to the agreement will not be accepted.

3. Review the Rule 29 Project Submittal Checklist and confirm you have gathered all the required information. Incomplete Submittals will be rejected.

4. Review the Rule 29 Sample Easement with the property owner, as they will be required to sign it. Redlines to the easement will not be accepted.

5. Reach out to your authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), who will permit your project. Ensure the project design will meet your jurisdiction's requirements.

6. Review SCE CAD Requirements Document.

7. Review SCE Electrical Service Requirements (ESR) Manual. The ESR Manual provides guidance and instructions pertaining to electrical service connections. Its purpose is to assist electrical contractors, engineers, architects, and manufacturers engaged in the installation of electrical service wiring and equipment.

Rule 29 Project Process

The detailed process for installing EV charging through Rule 29 is outlined below. Throughout this webpage, SCE has provided approximate durations for activities. These durations can vary and are dependent on various factors that include, but are not limited to, project workload and complexity. SCE will try to adhere to the Rule 29 timelines outlined below; however, the overall objective is to achieve the minimum project required timelines (Regulatory Compliance Requirements) as defined by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Please note that for applicants who will be participating in Rule 29 and would like to install a primary switchgear, the process will differ slightly. For primary service switchgear applicants, these steps can be found in the FAQ.

 

Customer Intake/Pre-Assessment

Before you begin, please note the following conditions can trigger an engineering study: (1) requested load of 500kW and above, (2) circuit is constrained, (3) tie-into existing 4kV circuit, or (4) primary service is requested.

The applicant must complete one of the following options

Option A (Optional): Request an Engineering Analysis Report Application (EAR) through the Building, Renovation, and Project Planning Portal (BRP3).

A paid study of $3,000 is invoiced, and payment must clear before the EAR is initiated. If the project is phased, SCE will review the entire project scope and all associated phases.

Insight into the circuit capacity, distribution substation, and transmission snapshot are discussed in the EAR. If system upgrades are needed, the associated timeframes are provided.

Please complete the following fields: BRP3 Project Details, **If you are the Authorized 3rd Party, you will need to complete the 3rd-Party Authorization Form before submitting the application. This will authorize SCE to discuss the project with you. The document must be notarized if anything outside the red box is checked**.

Preferred Upload Documents:

  • High-level site plan/vicinity map that includes transformer location, switchgear, and port location(s).
  • EVSE Cut Sheets /Charger Specs Sheets
  • Load Schedule

 

SCE will administer the following after receipt and review of the applicant’s information:

If engineering study was requested or required, SCE will develop a pre-assessment package that will include the Engineering Snap Study, Preliminary Capacity Assessment (PCA), the identified Point of Connection (POC), and a conceptual design to delineate between Rule 29, Rule 15, and Rule 16 to support CAD file development.

This will conclude the BRP3 EAR Request Application.

The results of these studies are only a snapshot in time and do not constitute a reservation of load. 

Customers are responsible for ensuring that the property owner understands that an SCE easement must be provided as part of this project. Neither the language in the easement document, nor the easement process, may be modified.

Option B: BRP3 Application with the full design submittal package Customers that do not fall within the engineering threshold or don’t choose to complete an optional EAR Request will be required to complete a Commercial EV (CEV) / R29 Application via BRP3. A courtesy conceptual design (non-engineering) will be offered to help identify a potential POC to support CAD file development. The identified POC may change after Engineering Load Reservation is provided. Customers are responsible for any additional survey and updates necessary to the CAD file as needed for Planning to proceed with design.

 

Engineering and Design Phase

Preliminary Design and Engineering Load Reservation Phase The following conditions can trigger an engineering study: (1) requested load of 500kW and above, (2) circuit is constrained, (3) tie-into existing 4kV circuit, or (4) primary service is requested.

A full engineering study will be performed once the complete design is received, and the project load will be reserved upon completion. The items needed to proceed with preliminary design and Engineering Load Reservation are listed below:

New Service BRP3 Application must be completed online, along with the required files to be uploaded to BRP3 portal: 

  1. Vicinity Map/Site plan, both CAD dwg.file and PDF. This must meet SCE CAD file requirements. SCE will not accept a CAD file if it does not meet all requirements.
  2. Single Line Diagram
  3. Load Schedule
  4. EVSE Cut Sheets /Charger Spec Sheets
  5. Rule 29 Agreement (signed by the legal contact listed in BRP3).

*SCE Optional Pre-assessment Package (including EAR/Preliminary Capacity Assessment POC and conceptual design)

If there are no utility upgrades required and circuit capacity is available, the preliminary design package will be formally submitted to Planning. The average period for Planning to create a preliminary design map is 30 business days; this timeline is dependent on the magnitude of scope and could be greater than 30 business days.

Non-Transferability of Load Reservations

Load reservations made for any new load project—including new load for existing facilities, new construction, or EV charging stations—are strictly non-transferable. Only the entity that will be the customer of record at the address where the load reservation is made may submit, modify, or act upon a load reservation. Any attempt to assign, transfer, or delegate a load reservation to another party, whether through sale, lease, acquisition, or other means, is prohibited and will be considered invalid. All forms, agreements, and communications related to new load projects must be completed and signed by the entity that will be the customer of record at the address where the load reservation is made. This policy ensures equitable access to system capacity and supports accurate planning and allocation of distribution resources.

Customers are responsible for notifying the utility of any changes in site use, ownership, or operational intent that may affect the validity of an existing load reservation. Failure to do so may result in cancellation of the reservation and reallocation of the reserved capacity. If a customer chooses not to proceed with a project, they are responsible for canceling the reservation to allow SCE to make the reserved capacity available to other customers.

Final Design Phase

This phase begins after the applicant has reviewed and approved the preliminary design phase. Any changes that occur after the final design phase have begun automatically restart the design period(s). It is important that all comments and feedback are provided before starting the final design phase.

The required final design stage steps include:

  1. Applicants are required to sign the preliminary map and provide them to their SCE contact.
  2. Switchgear/panel drawings with Electric Utility Service Equipment Requirements Committee (EUSERC) numbers are required before final design begins. For primary service projects, the drawings will be sent to SCE Distribution Engineering for review, which takes approximately 4-6 weeks to complete. This timing is dependent on comments and review cycles.
  3. An address provided by the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) for the EV Meter is required before the final design begins. When the applicant receives the assigned address, or the unique identifier, the official address assignment letter from the AHJ should be sent to their SCE contact so it can be updated in our system. This is typically provided during your permitting stage. It is important for SCE to have the correct EV meter address, as we cannot have multiple meters with the same address, and we need to ensure that the address provided on the (AHJ) release matches what we have in the system so that it is applied when received. Deviations from this can result in significant delays.
  4. If the applicant needs a Short Circuit Duty Letter (or Fault Duty Current Letter), it can be requested after the preliminary design has been approved (normally within 2-3 weeks). This cannot be provided prior to approval of the preliminary design.

Dependencies/Requirements Phase

  1. SCE will acquire an easement as required by the project scope. This occurs after the final design is complete. A third-party vendor will create an easement package that will be sent to the property owner to execute. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that the property owner will grant the easement.
  2. Environmental Request and Clearances
  3. If any utility side permits are required, such as traffic control, right of way, etc., SCE will acquire them during this step.

Site Readiness/SCE Civil Construction Phase

After all requirements have been met, SCE will schedule an onsite preconstruction meeting based on customer mobilization including all parties involved to review construction activities and establish a start work date (SWD) and estimated timeline to complete this work. SCE does not recommend any onsite work before this meeting. Any work performed beforehand will be at a customer’s own risk. It is the customer’s responsibility to have the site ready for SCE to begin on the scheduled SWD. SCE will install all necessary ducts and structures for the Rule 29 portion of the project and support any inspections related to the Rule 15 and Rule 16 scope.

Electrical Requirements -

  1. Turn on Application: Applicants shall coordinate with the SCE contact to schedule an electrical service application.
  2. AHJ Release: The applicant is responsible for ensuring their project scope has been inspected and approved for service by the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). The AHJ will notify SCE electronically if they have approved the project for service.
  3. EV Switchgear Inspection Coordination: Applicants are required to coordinate with SCE for final EV related switchgear inspections.
  4. SCE Civil Construction Releases and Clearances

SCE Electrical Construction Phase

Upon completion of the final applicant requirements, SCE will: 

  1. Coordinate the installation of the EV meter for your project.
  2. Be responsible for pulling, terminating, testing, and landing cables.
  3. Schedule the energization of your project site based on the Level of effort (LOE) hours. This can vary between 4- 6 weeks.

Customer Commissioning /Applicant Confirmation Phase

Upon completion of all phases above, applicants are required to confirm via email: 

  1. Final Charging Port Count: Applicants are required to confirm the total number of charging ports against the initially provided information.
  2. Meter Number Provision: The SCE point of contact will provide applicants with a meter number. Applicants should confirm this information in their email response for tracking purposes.
  3. Site and Meter Address: Applicants are requested to confirm if the meter address matches the one assigned by the AHJ.
  4. Commission Date Notification: Applicants must inform SCE of the date when the EV chargers become operational for public use within 30 calendars of SCE energization.

Forms and Resources

Use the following forms and resources to learn more, get started, and complete your project:

 

Rule 29 Documents and Sample Forms

Rule 29 Forms:

Rule 29 Reference Material:

Reference and Resource Documents:

Need more help or information?

Need help getting started? Request a no-cost consultation with a Transportation Electrification (TE) specialist here: Transportation Electrification Advisory Services - EV Readiness Form

Ready to Apply? Submit your application here: Building, Renovation, and Project Planning Portal | SCE