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CFE stops solar credits


El Bizco

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6 minutes ago, Tiny said:

???????

A common practice in Mexico. Persons trying to break in are exposed to electrified wire fence that will give them a large enough shock to get them to fall off the wall or if they use insulated cutters and they cut the wire, or if they are shocked the alarm will go off.

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1 minute ago, johanson said:

A common practice in Mexico. Persons trying to break in are exposed to electrified wire fence that will give them a large enough shock to get them to fall off the wall or if they use insulated cutters and they cut the wire, or if they are shocked the alarm will go off.

Just pulling your chain.  😀

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On 4/28/2018 at 4:48 PM, moderator-2 said:

Sounds like you are roughing it there, John!  :D

I'm curious, do you not have corrosion problems with the solar panels there?  The beach sure seems to eat up AC compressor units.  I would think the beach would be a great place for a bunch of solar for the reasons you noted but have not seen a lot of places there using it, at least on or close to the ocean front.  


One key to avoiding corrosion:  Do not drill or scratch the aluminum components. ... Use only the manufacturer's pre-drilled holes when installing or securing - so the corrosion resistance is only as good as the installation.  ;)

Good quality manufactures treat~seal  the frames with anti-corrosion coatings,  but those coatings can fail when people drill holes or scratch the aluminum parts.

Re the amparo's effects on small electricity generators,  consider the difference between Net-metering and Net-Billing.  Under Net Metering, we cannot generate a cash profit at the end of the CFE billing cycle.   Fortunately,  the CFE's current Net Billing system is better, because our excess solar electricity generation is valued at the higher retail rates (esp Excedente),    a bonus when we use the CFE-banked kWh  in the future.

 


 

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  • 1 month later...

An update on the solar credit balance situation.

At the end of May I was carrying a 1,100 kWh credit balance. With grandkids visiting using a boatload of A/C (at the beach) the new June bill shows me using 400kWh more than I produced. The bill is for $20 pesos but nowhere on the bill or online does it show I now have a 700kWh credit. 

For those who have solar and are running a credit balance I'd encourage saving copies of all bills and setting up a spreadsheet to manage your own credit balance just in case CFE tries to pull a fast one down the road.

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I was told by one solar office that CFE had started to cancel extra KWH saved up once per year, perhaps on the first bill following years end, yet apparently others had their balance zeroed out at a later date. Yet there are some folks who regularly check their CFE bills who apparently  have never had their excess KWH deleted nor adjusted down to the past 12 months.

I sure don't know what the new CFE billing rules are, if any.

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The prudent approach would be to reduce the billing to well under the DAC and reduce the cost of the solar panels installation. A portion of the bill is subsidized; or at least it is in non solar applications. Assuming that extra generation of power does not result in any benefits. 

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20 hours ago, RVGRINGO said:

Are you sure that your solar panels are clean, and producing as they should? A bit of dust and bird droppings will reduce their efficiency.

Well, in 6 years I've never cleaned them, and energy production has been remarkably consistent year-to-year until now.  Maybe the last 3 months have been abnormally dirty?-- kinda like a 100 year event of dirtiness? Anyway I check the inverter now and then and output is as expected, so cleanliness or lack thereof is not the culprit. Something is afoot at CFE if you ask me.

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You also have to realize that when it's cloudy, solar production is reduced, sometime dramatically. June was a particularly cloudy month. I normally average close to 18kWh per day but in June it was closer to 14. There was also that period of unusual rain in May.

The only way to track down unexpected CFE bills is to read the inverter and meter daily or at least have some historical reference to what you'd consider to be normal solar production as well as normal usage. 

 

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Some people think I am crazy, but as I leave the house every morning, I do check my meter. And it has saved me money, when I discovered that some of my solar panels had stopped working. It was any easy fix. I had to flip a switch. But without checking, I would not have discovered this problem until I got a larger bill.

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Yes, despite the longer days, our June solar generation is likely to be among the lowest since our installation in August 2017.  On the plus side, there is less watering needed, so our water pumps are rarely engaged.  

We check our solar generation online daily, no need to look at the CFE meter.  

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2 hours ago, johanson said:

Some people think I am crazy, but as I leave the house every morning, I do check my meter. And it has saved me money, when I discovered that some of my solar panels had stopped working. It was any easy fix. I had to flip a switch. But without checking, I would not have discovered this problem until I got a larger bill.

I have the lazy person's system. It has app that shows the numbers with a graph of each day. I can tell when clouds or a very large bird goes over the system. 

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35 minutes ago, johanson said:

Sadly I ordered my system in 2007 and it was installed in March 2008. And at that time such a system was not available, Tiny. I sure wish it were.

The control panel has Wi-Fi connection to our network. The data is on the web. Don't you think it is time to replace your control panel? hahahaha. Maybe, add it to your Christmas list.

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The trouble is,  that I have three separate inverters each handling six to 12 panels, for a total of 28 panels. Why so many panels? Remember that in the olden days the panels only created 170 to 180 watts each of power. Nowadays panels are often 250 watts or larger and therefore ,  one needs close to half of these newer panels to generate the same amount of power that I generate. If I had only one inverter (not 3), I would have already taken the suggestion you made.

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12 minutes ago, johanson said:

The trouble is,  that I have three separate inverters each handling six to 12 panels, for a total of 28 panels. Why so many panels? Remember that in the olden days the panels only created 170 to 180 watts each of power. Nowadays panels are often 250 watts or larger and therefore ,  one needs close to half of these newer panels to generate the same amount of power that I generate. If I had only one inverter (not 3), I would have already taken the suggestion you made.

Really. Best days I am getting 10 KWh with 5 panels.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Whatever will be the future of solar which I believe will be stellar performance and great for the planet. However the current losers such as CFE here in Mexico and elsewhere, will find a way to get governments change the deal and tax solar users in the future and channel back via taxation lost revenue to state or local energy producers who do serve users who have not the means to go solar. Its obvious that the majority of energy users depend on CFE and likewise providers to deliver electricity to their homes, its also obvious that many of those households have not the means to change over to solar. Taxation is the only way to get the money to continue to provide non-solar users with electricity as we know it now.

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As mentioned in the other newer thread on this, the solar credit system continues and should be shown back on the bills by the end of this year.

In addition, we're now hearing that net-metering users may even have the option of selling their annual excess production to the utility.   TBD.   

Current payback for a DAC user is in the 4 year range and system costs have never been lower and should continue in that direction given current industry forecasts.

And the CFE rate structure is configured to help the less advantaged low users, while charging more for higher consumption - so one could view THAT as already being a progressive tax, that is in place.     Certainly encourages conservation and / or clean energy generation, both of which are good things.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Hi everybody! I just had ten solar panels installed. I paid the solar company, and they said it would be 2-3 weeks before CFE would install the bi-directional meter. During this time, the system just sits and cannot be turned on. A week later, I got an email from CFE saying that I needed to deposit $16,800 MX to a bank account to pay for a new pole and wiring. Has anybody else had this happen? I am near Chapala, in San Antonio Tlayacapan. I appreciate any advice or insight this group can offer me. :-)

 

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1 hour ago, Dandy said:

Hi everybody! I just had ten solar panels installed. I paid the solar company, and they said it would be 2-3 weeks before CFE would install the bi-directional meter. During this time, the system just sits and cannot be turned on. A week later, I got an email from CFE saying that I needed to deposit $16,800 MX to a bank account to pay for a new pole and wiring. Has anybody else had this happen? I am near Chapala, in San Antonio Tlayacapan. I appreciate any advice or insight this group can offer me. 🙂

 

My system worked before the meter was installed. I didn't build credit for the night  but  consumed zero during the  day. 

As to the pole..... Never herd of that. You don't change the  cables from the street to the meter. Have your solar company help you with CFE  something is not right. 

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On 4/27/2018 at 11:23 PM, Hud said:

If the solar sector continues to grow and people pay less to CFE, how is CFE going to pay huge employee  bonuses and huge retirement pay outs. Think they are like Pemex, no?

Yes, but it is a backwards move.

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