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12 minutes ago, Ferret said:

I have one of the newer meters since my panels were installed a year ago last March. I check the meter once a week and currently have 392 kwh stashed as of this morning. I have 5 panels and each is rated at 350 watts per hour in perfect solar conditions. I also have the "enlighten" system installed and can check on the computer daily how much the panels have produced. It makes me grin from ear to ear most days. For this whole month I've been averaging 9 kwh produced per day... and my panels could use a bath. I tracked my usage for a year before putting in solar and it averaged 5.5 kwh per day over the 365 days. My "wish" list (an electric fireplace heater) was added to that amount to estimate the number of panels needed. I was very comfortable all of last winter. I will never regret biting the bullet to do this.

You can find your total existing kwh credits via the meter (or are you relying on CFE bill, when they deign to show the CRs)?  If via the meter, how?  Thx. 

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18 hours ago, Go Solar said:

Not quite.  Neither of the CFE numbers represent what your panels are producing.   (unless your home is totally turned off....then 2.8.0 could show that.)   

The 1.8.0 is use from CFE.    (For most folks with a well sized solar system, this generally just goes up at night.)

The 2.8.0 is "sent" to CFE, which is NET of what is used in your home, at the time it is being produced.     (Can only increase, during the day.)

The difference between the two, is the "net net" amount of use (or credit) from, or with, CFE, for any period of time both are being measured.

Bisbee Gal, GoSolar already answered this for you. 

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On 4/20/2019 at 9:12 AM, Newfhugger said:

Not sure how to deal with this issue.

After all of this, I think the only thing you can do is gather as much information (CFE bills, pic's of meter for a couple of days with date stamp if possible, ...) as you can and go talk to CFE.

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18 hours ago, Go Solar said:

 

The 1.8.0 is use from CFE.    (For most folks with a well sized solar system, this generally just goes up at night.)

The 2.8.0 is "sent" to CFE, which is NET of what is used in your home, at the time it is being produced.     (Can only increase, during the day.)

The difference between the two, is the "net net" amount of use (or credit) from, or with, CFE, for any period of time both are being measured.

 

10 minutes ago, Ferret said:

Bisbee Gal, GoSolar already answered this for you. 

Still lost.  Haven't looked at our meter since it was installed.  How do I set any "period of time" at the meter?  

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You can't. You can only read the two sets of numbers at a given point in time to help you keep track. It's not an exact science. The meter flashes between three screens. Hopefully the one with the code 2.8.0 (sent to CFE) is higher than the screen with 1.8.0 (received from CFE). If it's higher, then the difference between the two is your "credit".

I've also been discussing this with a friend in Joco who said they were coming out to "read" the meter today. This has me totally confused because, surely, a digital display is being monitored electronically by CFE and wouldn't require the services of a dyslexic CFE meter reader???????

 

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3 minutes ago, Ferret said:

Hopefully the one with the code 2.8.0 (sent to CFE) is higher than the screen with 1.8.0 (received from CFE). If it's higher, then the difference between the two is your "credit".

These codes depends upon that type of meter you have. Another meter uses 1 and 11.

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5 minutes ago, Ferret said:

This has me totally confused because, surely, a digital display is being monitored electronically by CFE and wouldn't require the services of a dyslexic CFE meter reader???????

Just because the meters are digital, that doesn't mean that they are centrally monitored.

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1 minute ago, Bisbee Gal said:

...in the OPs case.  

He has solar with net metering. He claims that actual use has not increased but his net use has. Seems simple to me, the solar system needs to be checked.

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And, as pointed out by Tiny, his meter is different so I can't help. But, for the meter that I have, I would take TWO time and date stamped photos... one of the meter showing the 2.8.0 reading and one of the meter showing the 1.8.0 reading. Back to back, timed and dated photos are PROOF.

And, yes, Angus I agree with you. Something's off. If the panels are working properly then something else is running excessively... like a pump or even a voltage regulator gone nuts that is shunting electricity directly to ground. That happened to us in Riviera Alta and the "usage" was astronomical. The top of the voltage regulator was red hot. Changed the voltage regulator (with one that had a fuse) and consumption went back to normal.
 

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On 4/20/2019 at 9:12 AM, Newfhugger said:

Has anyone received a hinky CFE bill this month?  I have 16 solar panels and NEVER NEVER have a charge for electricity.  This month I got a charge for $400 pesos.  HUH?  I was told a couple years ago that given my usage and how much I produce that I could go back onto CFE without my panels and not have a bill for a year. Not sure how to deal with this issue.

If you do talk to CFE, you may want to ask them about the graph information on the backside of your bill.  It is only showing one period.  My bills shows information for each period. I wonder if there is a bill problem.

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10 hours ago, johanson said:

The above photos show the same type of meter I have. I received this meter sometime after my panels were installed in 2008. In those days my panels were rated at only 170 watts per panel. Today, I understand that they are much more efficient and perhaps a little larger in area and are usually rated at or over 250 watts per panel.

Currently installing 370 watt size panels, Pete, each is 1x2 meters.    Size has increased more than efficiency....however, progress is being made, and now 4 can take the place of 8 to 10, and all 4 can be run with a single micro-inverter, with per panel online monitoring, in real time and full history.  (warning; can be addicting!   😉    So if a hiccup occurs on the CFE billing, it is very easy to check (from anywhere via PC or phone app) what is going on, even adjust the inverter parameters remotely (tech function) to better match the grid voltage and frequency.

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9 hours ago, Tiny said:

If you do talk to CFE, you may want to ask them about the graph information on the backside of your bill.  It is only showing one period.  My bills shows information for each period. I wonder if there is a bill problem.

That is because the OP mentioned never having had other than the minimum bill from CFE, in other words, he always had a kWh credit balance, from the beginning, so there has been no consumption to show, on the graph.       Definitely need to check both the system and the house electrical, and "think back" to the winter period of use that may have driven up consumption considerably, like electrical heating, and used up the credit balance.

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18 minutes ago, Go Solar said:

That is because the OP mentioned never having had other than the minimum bill from CFE, in other words, he always had a kWh credit balance, from the beginning, so there has been no consumption to show, on the graph.       Definitely need to check both the system and the house electrical, and "think back" to the winter period of use that may have driven up consumption considerably, like electrical heating, and used up the credit balance.

So why is there a bar of value of 191for 14 Jun 18 to 14 Ago 18 consumption?

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On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 10:12 AM, Newfhugger said:

I was told a couple years ago that given my usage and how much I produce that I could go back onto CFE without my panels and not have a bill for a year.

Tiny, good point - you'll have to ask  the OP to check, perhaps there was a bill back then, it would fit with the above words......

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17 minutes ago, Newfhugger said:

I have the meter that shows 1 and 1.1. What do those numbers represent?

I believe 1 is what you use from CFE and 1.1 is what you send to CFE but you need to confirm that with someone like Pete or Go Solar.

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Thanks Pete.   Yep, you and Tiny have it right.     And the 1st line on the CFE solar bill is the "use" (current, less previous reading), while the 2nd line of figures is the "sent".

There are a few solar meters out there with little arrows instead of #'s... these can be a bit more difficult to interpret.     The one pointing "into" the meter (like a ">" on the left side of the display, facing to the right) is "use", and if it is pointing "out" of the meter (left side of display, facing left, like this "<" ) then, this is "sent".     If any doubt, take 2 good clear close up photos, (one of each reading), date them, compare them to the most recent CFE bill, and head to the CFE office....!    😉 

 

 

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On 4/21/2019 at 5:02 PM, Go Solar said:

Not quite.  Neither of the CFE numbers represent what your panels are producing.   (unless your home is totally turned off....then 2.8.0 could show that.)   

The 1.8.0 is use from CFE.    (For most folks with a well sized solar system, this generally just goes up at night.)

The 2.8.0 is "sent" to CFE, which is NET of what is used in your home, at the time it is being produced.     (Can only increase, during the day.)

The difference between the two, is the "net net" amount of use (or credit) from, or with, CFE, for any period of time both are being measured.

So the conclusions I can draw are:

If 1.8 is LESS than 2.8, then I will be banking credits with CFE

If 2.8 is LESS than 1.8, then I will be owing CFE.

-----------

Right now my 1.8 meter reads 3951  [Friday April 19 it read 3931]

And now for   2.8 meter reads 3939   [Friday April 19 it read 3930]

Therefore, at this point in time, I am "owing" CFE 12 kWh, correct?

But this is because I am running 3 mini-split a/c units at night in the bedrooms, each for a few hours.  If the usage continues as is based upon Friday 19 April to this morning 23 April, it appears I am using 3 kWh a night from CFE for all the a/c units combined.   Over the course of a month it will be appx 90 - 100 kWh I am pulling from  CFE.   So, I may get a small-ish bill from CFE in June for somewhere around 200 kWh, right?

Yet when the rains come in late June my mini-split usage will go down or even disappear, and I will start "netting" more kWh and thus, not need to pull from CFE, true?  

 

 

 

 

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Something like

1 hour ago, kimanjome said:

But this is because I am running 3 mini-split a/c units at night in the bedrooms, each for a few hours.  If the usage continues as is based upon Friday 19 April to this morning 23 April, it appears I am using 3 kWh a night from CFE for all the a/c units combined.   Over the course of a month it will be appx 90 - 100 kWh I am pulling from  CFE.   So, I may get a small-ish bill from CFE in June for somewhere around 200 kWh, right?

Something like that happened to us last Christmas.  We were running more lights, longer.  Also, there was less production from the panels.

I don't have the actual numbers handy but our bill went up from 46 to 62 pesos.  HAHAHAHA

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I’m sure I haven’t seen every bi-directional meter model but those I have start with a LED test pattern where every light is on. The first number is the amount you used from CFE and the second is the amount that went back onto the grid (debit and credit in money terms).

Each meter reading billing collects the debit and credit sides and nets each of them by comparing the current reading to the previous or anterior. You either owe the bank money for kwh used or you add the credit to your balance. This is in theory since balances haven’t appeared on bills for months.

The only missing part of the equation is the amount of kwh you took directly from your solar panels during the day. You either have to catch the total produced today from your inverter or you read the life total in the morning and subtract yesterday from today. That’s how much your solar system produced. Take that number,  subtract the CFE debit number and add the credit number and you have the total kwh consumed in a day.

If you ever have concerns about usage it is wise to take the 3 readings every day for a billing period and track daily consumption. Often something will pop up that will lead you to investigate possible causes for high electricity use. Kill-aWatt is an invaluable tool to track runaway appliances.

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18 minutes ago, John Shrall said:

The only missing part of the equation is the amount of kwh you took directly from your solar panels during the day. You either have to catch the total produced today from your inverter or you read the life total in the morning and subtract yesterday from today. That’s how much your solar system produced. Take that number,  subtract the CFE debit number and add the credit number and you have the total kwh consumed in a day.

If you ever have concerns about usage it is wise to take the 3 readings every day for a billing period and track daily consumption. Often something will pop up that will lead you to investigate possible causes for high electricity use. Kill-aWatt is an invaluable tool to track runaway appliances.

Confused since I don't think my solar panels send anything directly into the house. If they did, I think I would have electricity (during producing hours) when there is a power failure and I don't. I THINK it's just a two way street... to CFE and from CFE.

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