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CFE solar credit system update


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The CFE billing format changes have raised many questions from solar and other users all over the country, here's an update that reinforces all is well;
 
Last week a well placed contact heard from a reliable source that the CRE (Comisión Reguladora de Energía) has requested the CFE to again show the kWh bank energy info on the bills.
We are now anticipating the authorities would publish that in the DOF (Diario Oficial de la Federación) and from that point, CFE would have 100 days to change that in their systems.  
So.....with that, by the end of this year, the energy balance should appear again on the bills.
The energy credits are still accumulating in CFE system for 12 months, and it may be possible to obtain this info at the CFE office on an individual basis in the interim.
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Yes, that is what has been happening to me for several years, Tiny. And I am very glad that Go Solar explained why my bill no longer shows the amount saved up. Some of us were afraid that they no longer gave us credit to carry forward.

Thank goodness we will be accumulating credit during those months that some of us generate more than we use.

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mexjerry,

the CFE solar bill has two lines of kWh, with 2 values each,  for the "previous" and "current" readings.   (the CFE meters display 2 sets of kWh values)

The 1st row is "use from CFE", the 2nd row is "sent to CFE".

Your bill, or credit, is based on "the difference between the differences".

So if line 1 shows 1100 and 1000, while line 2 shows 900 and 850, you'd have use of 100, and "sent" of 50, on this current bill, for a net use of 50 kWh from CFE.       If line 2  difference works out higher than line 1, you'll have a credit and the minimum current billing of about 46 pesos incl IVA.

The CFE bill does NOT tell you your actual solar production, you have to get that info from your inverter / monitoring system.

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2 hours ago, Tiny said:

Our installation was planned for "zero balance".

In an area like Ajijc where monthly electricity usage varies little of course that's the best plan and one pretty easy to compute. However in an area along the ocean where A/C is used only during the sweltering summer months and an electric pool heater for a couple of months in the winter, accumulating credits has to be factored into how many panels to install. 

For example in May I had a net +500 due to pleasant weather at our house at the beach. In June with family and A/C the net was -400. I still have 600 accumulated there but that balance could be wiped out with a few more summertime visits. Once summer is over or visits slow down the balance will go up getting ready for the next hit.

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This article was published Thursday, no details as yet, basically it confirms what many were asking about earlier this year and last year - that small users will have the option of choosing either net metering (the current practice) or net-billing / selling energy to CFE.

http://elfinanciero.com.mx/economia/cfe-desiste-de-amparo-contra-la-generacion-distribuida-de-cre

Almost certainly, the best way to go for those in DAC would be to continue with net metering unless the Feed In Tariff rate paid is VERY attractive,; more will be known as the details are unveiled.

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Here's a translation:

 

The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) desisted from relying on the General Distribution Provisions by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), so it will now be easier for homes in Mexico to generate their own electricity.

On April 25, 2017, the CFE filed a request for protection in which it argued that its income could be affected by the new provisions established by the CRE. However, he announced that he gave up on this one.

In an interview with El Financiero, Victor Ramirez, executive director of the National Solar Energy Association (Anes) said that although the struggle was long, the CFE, thanks to the impetus from legislators of all parties and the CRE, resigned the lawsuit, giving certainty to the market.

"Now anyone can install panels on their roofs, sell the energy to CFE and CFE is obliged to buy the energy as long as the specifications indicated in the interconnection manual are met," he said.

Ramirez said that today, Anes associates have three interconnection contracts through the total sale scheme: two in Chihuahua and one in the state of Oaxaca.

"There are some projects that are beginning to be built, both in terms of total sales and turnover," he added.

After CFE's protection, investments for distributed generation of 200 million dollars were halted.
The executive dismissed the CFE's decision as a consequence of the political transition.

"Legal proceedings are not automatic. Today we see it but surely the withdrawal came last week or last week," he said.

With the publication of the General Provisions of Distributed Generation, which specify the new contract models that users can use for the production of solar energy in photovoltaic panel installations below 500 megawatts, the Anes expected annual growth to reach 19 thousand megawatts in 2030.

 

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Mention of the credits dropped off our bills 2 or 3 cycles ago when the bill format changed.  Used to be shown in a section called Observaciones but that no longer appears on my bills.  Tom...where on your bill do you see the CR's?

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First line is what I use and second line is what I produce. Production has always been higher that use. Bills are just for the $42 pesos +/- service charge and those are covered by a credit that originated in 2010 when they billed me $2483p in error. 

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I went back and looked at the Jan bill where it had the "observations" section on page 2 and that was where my surplus was listed. No such section in subsequent bills but still don't owe anything. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
As mentioned in the original posting, it is now official that CFE is required to indicate the "energy bank" (credits) info on their (your) bills. 
It has been published in DOF (Diario Oficial de la Federación) three days ago, and they will have 100 days to make this change.
 
You can see the publication in this link:
 
 
Regards!
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Thanks for the great news, I love my photo voltaic system and would love to see these figures on my bill again.

Question. Are they still cutting off the amount of KWH saved every year, or will it revert back to the old system of accumulating all excess KWH?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

 

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in 2007 when CFE wasn't as reliable as it is now, I bought a battery backup system that worked when CFE was down. I still have that system and I guess by doubling or tripling the number of batteries I have I might have enough batteries to work everything when the power is out, but I sure wouldn't want to be forced to do this. It would be frightenly expensive. And because of heavy battery usage, I would need to replace my expensive deep cell Trojan golf cart 6 volt batteries much more often.

Today I have enough batteries for one refrig, one or two lights in each room, one TV and my laptop.

Think about all those extra high power demand items like a swimming pool pump, an irrigation pump, garage door openers etc, And you get the idea. It just doesn't make sense in most cases. 

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4 hours ago, johanson said:

Think about all those extra high power demand items like a swimming pool pump, an irrigation pump, garage door openers etc, And you get the idea. It just doesn't make sense in most cases. 

It is just terrible to have all those high demand items. HAHAHAHA

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2 hours ago, Tiny said:

It is just terrible to have all those high demand items. HAHAHAHA

Yes Tiny my CFE bill recently doubled. It went from 23 pesos per month to 46 pesos when they started billing me every other month.

My gosh. That is nearly 300 pesos per year. What is the world coming to?

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As Johanson says, that's a pretty good deal for having them act as both the "battery" and the "bank".   ("storing" energy via the kWh credit system, and keeping track of it, invisibly for now, and soon to return, showing on the CFE billing statements)

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18 hours ago, johanson said:

Yes Tiny my CFE bill recently doubled. It went from 23 pesos per month to 46 pesos when they started billing me every other month.

My gosh. That is nearly 300 pesos per year. What is the world coming to?

If I may ask, how many years of usage are you getting out of your batteries?

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No you may not ask. Because I do not remember exactly. But the first set that were installed in 2008 were replaced about 3 years ago. They lasted longer than Golf cart batteries normally do because there was no heavy use thereof. ie, the power outages were usually during the day and the solar panels provided the majority of the power needed. And if the power went out at night, something that doesn't often occur, about the only things using power were my refrigerator and an electric clock. Oh and also my non active Telmex modem. The new set of deep cell batteries are still in great health.

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