MySQL - UPDATE query with LIMIT

In addition to the nested approach above, you can accomplish the application of theLIMIT using JOIN on the same table:

UPDATE `table_name`
INNER JOIN (SELECT `id` from `table_name` order by `id` limit 0,100) as t2 using (`id`)
SET `name` = 'test'

In my experience the mysql query optimizer is happier with this structure.

If you want to update multiple rows using limit in MySQL you can use this construct:

UPDATE table_name SET name='test'
WHERE id IN (
    SELECT id FROM (
        SELECT id FROM table_name 
        ORDER BY id ASC  
        LIMIT 0, 10
    ) tmp
)

I would suggest a two step query

I'm assuming you have an autoincrementing primary key because you say your PK is (max+1) which sounds like the definition of an autioincrementing key.
I'm calling the PK id, substitute with whatever your PK is called.

1 - figure out the primary key number for column 1000.

SELECT @id:= id FROM smartmeter_usage LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1000

2 - update the table.

UPDATE smartmeter_usage.users_reporting SET panel_id = 3 
WHERE panel_id IS NULL AND id >= @id 
ORDER BY id 
LIMIT 1000

Please test to see if I didn't make an off-by-one error; you may need to add or subtract 1 somewhere.

When dealing with null, = does not match the null values. You can use IS NULL or IS NOT NULL

UPDATE `smartmeter_usage`.`users_reporting` 
SET panel_id = 3 WHERE panel_id IS NULL

LIMIT can be used with UPDATE but with the row count only