From utility records
Where the facility has 12 months of utility demand records, a Stamped Load Study is delivered in 3 days and a Turnkey Permit Package in 3 to 5 days. The clock starts when the evidence is in hand: the records, photographs of the panel, and any drawings that exist. It does not start when the order is placed, because nothing can be established from a form.
Check the utility portal before assuming there are no records. Many commercial accounts hold 12 months of interval data that the account holder has never opened, and finding it turns a 5-week metered study into a 3-day one.
From 30 days on the panel
Where there are no usable records, or the question is about one feeder that a utility bill cannot see, the existing load is recorded at the panel, and the study takes about 5 weeks. The 30 days are inside that figure and they cannot be shortened, because the readings are the evidence: NEC 220.87 requires at least 30 days, recorded continuously, while the facility is occupied and operating. A window with a gap is an invalid window, so it starts again.
The rest of the 5 weeks is the visit to fit the loggers, the visit to collect them at the end of the window, and the review and seal once the record is in.
What makes it longer
Heating load has to be measured in winter, and cooling load in summer. A 30-day window in a shoulder season can capture neither peak, and the section requires the larger of the two to be included, so the window is either scheduled into the right season or the missing load is added by calculation and the report says so.
Records that turn out to be kilowatt-hours only. A year of consumption bills is not a year of demand data, and the study moves to the metered path when that is discovered. It is worth knowing which kind of bill you have before ordering.
A change on site after the study is sealed. That is a re-study, priced as one, and it restarts the clock.
What is not in the figure
The authority's review of the submittal, and the utility's handling of an interconnection or an upgrade application. Both are set by those bodies and vary by jurisdiction and by season, and we do not quote a time for either, because a number we cannot stand behind is worse than none. Revisions the authority or the utility asks for are free until the submittal is accepted, and they are turned around as they arrive.
Questions people ask
Is there a rush option?
No. The published turnaround is the turnaround, and a metered study cannot be shortened because the 30 days of readings are the evidence.
Do the 30 days have to be consecutive?
Yes. NEC 220.87 requires the recording to be continuous. A window with a gap is not a shorter valid window; it is an invalid one, and it starts again.
Why about 5 weeks rather than 30 days?
The 30 days are the recording. Around them are the visit to fit the loggers, the visit to collect them when the window closes, and the review and seal once the record is in hand.
Can the study start before I have found the records?
The clock starts when the evidence is in hand. Until then nothing can be established, so the first step is the records, or a decision to meter.
How long will the authority take to approve it?
We do not know, and we do not quote it. Review time is set by the authority having jurisdiction and varies by place and by season. Ask the authority that will review the permit.