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I posted a few weeks ago about a whacky CFE bill.  I just came from the CFE office in Chapala and was told that even though I had a credit of over 2,500 kwh units that showed on the last billing period and i had an additional credit of 332 Kwh's credited to that amount for the billing period that ended in February, that this past billing period was a "new year" and they totally deleted all past solar credits. I had an odd thing going on with my electric last month and used 300 kwh's more than I produced but because they did a total dump of past credits, I had to pay for the over use.  It was my understanding that solar owners were on a 12 month rolling cycle and only the back 13th month of credits was dumped each month - not an entire 12 months worth of credit.  Has anyone else gotten the same story from CFE?

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Why don't you just go off the grid Pete? You are already 3/4 the way there. Just use the inverter for anything 120 volt AC, that won't run on 12 volt DC. Run 12 volt wires in the house, you wouldn't believe how many lights, security systems, computers, etc. can now run on 12 volt. Check out the RV and Marine stores. Then throw the master breaker for C.F.E., you will want to keep the existing 120 for resale value. Then your C.F.E. bill will be 50 pesos per month (to keep the account open)..

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I could go offline. But drawing the batteries way down each night and them recharging them each day shortens their life.  And paying only  23 pesos per month (really $46 every two months) is worth not wearing out the batteries as fast. Replacing each of the Trojan 6 volt batteries costs about $400 US.  I use 8 of them. So if I have to pay 23 pesos every month or about $15 dollars US per year to lessen the wear and tear  on the batteries is well worth the investment

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1 hour ago, Newfhugger said:

I posted a few weeks ago about a whacky CFE bill.  I just came from the CFE office in Chapala and was told that even though I had a credit of over 2,500 kwh units that showed on the last billing period and i had an additional credit of 332 Kwh's credited to that amount for the billing period that ended in February, that this past billing period was a "new year" and they totally deleted all past solar credits. I had an odd thing going on with my electric last month and used 300 kwh's more than I produced but because they did a total dump of past credits, I had to pay for the over use.  It was my understanding that solar owners were on a 12 month rolling cycle and only the back 13th month of credits was dumped each month - not an entire 12 months worth of credit.  Has anyone else gotten the same story from CFE?

Well that sux.  My next bill is for Apr-May (due in June).  On my last bill they seemed to apply a credit, but CFE bills are not very forthcoming in details.  

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Is this a new CFE policy?  I have had solar for 2 years and I was told the credits "dumped" at the end of the calendar year.  But then I read? heard? recently that CFE had changed the policy so the credits would be rolled over on a fiscal basis, no longer the caledar year but some other year, like March 1 to February 28, or some odd time.  This, along with the new rate increase and elimination of the middle tier.  

Surely there is someone on this forum who knows more about what is going on with CFE and if this, indeed, a new policy..  

 

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This was posted by Go Solar who works for STI in late October 2018.  Perhaps he can offer info on whether there have been changes to CFE solar credits. 

Quote

 

Go Solar

  •  
  • Go Solar
  • Members

Best info to date is that the credit system continues to work on a past 12 month rolling period, so it is not related to the calendar year - you just go back 12 months from the current billing period.    Any credits from prior to that would "drop off".    So by reviewing the most current 6 bills, one can calculate if there should be a credit showing and what that amount of kWh credit should be.


 

 

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What Go Solar wrote is absolutely NOT what I was told yesterday. The gal I spoke with took my documents and went into the back room for about 10 minutes, then returned with the word that they had dumped all my credits and I had to start over.  I am suspicious as this seemed to also happen about 8 months ago.  Bottom line is that it appears that if I am not producing for them, they charge me and no credit is applied.  😞

 

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I was told by a contact person from another solar company that CFE were deleting all credits after a year.

I wonder if any national regulations does exist concerning this or is CFE free to set their own rules.  That would be like a store setting their own return policy. 

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I have had a surplus for 9 years and have never lost any surplus KwH. Maybe they just like me as Pete and I were some of the first people installing solar back in 2010.

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Does anyone know of a large solar panel installation company  in another area that can confirm this new CFE policy, if it actually exists?  I do know that a rate change went into effect a few months ago: the DAC rate went down, the Basic rate went up, and the Middle Tier was eliminated, or something like that.  But I did not see anything about CFE eliminating all solar credits after a year.  And, when would CFE determine the year start/end date?  

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8 hours ago, tomgates said:

I have had a surplus for 9 years and have never lost any surplus KwH. Maybe they just like me as Pete and I were some of the first people installing solar back in 2010.

Tom, Does the surplus show on your bill? If so, how is it displayed on the bill?

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CFE shows the total credit on reverse of bill, in the lower right box labelled, Aviso Importante, but only when they feel like it.  Go Solar previously wrote that CFE is required to show this credit on their bills, but my last bill (Feb-Mar) did not show it, instead they filled the space with this statement:

Tu negocio cuenta para México, de febrero a julio el INEGI está
llevando a cabo los Censos Económicos 2019.¡Participa!
Corte a partir de los 13 ABR 19.
Su medidor no registró consumo en este bimestre.

Our Dec-Jan bill did show our credits in the Aviso Importante block:

Corte a partir de los 11 FEB 19.
Usted cuenta con 1003 kwh a favor por energía acumulada que en sus próximas facturaciones
Le ha sido aplicado 85 Kwh a su bolsa de Energía
Su medidor no registró consumo en este bimestre.

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2 hours ago, Bisbee Gal said:

CFE shows the total credit on reverse of bill, in the lower right box labelled, Aviso Importante, but only when they feel like it.  Go Solar previously wrote that CFE is required to show this credit on their bills, but my last bill (Feb-Mar) did not show it, instead they filled the space with this statement:

 

My CFE bill read the same as yours for the same period.  Will be interesting to see what these new bills bring. 

Perhaps Newfhugger can tell us what his previous 2 bills showed in the reverse, lower right corner?

Really, really want to hear from a Solar company rep who has spoken with a CFE official about what is going on.

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I've always questioned the ability of CFE to manage the solar credits that would drop off after some period of time. That functionality would require a database change to house 11 individual numbers in the same manner as we see the last 11 total usage numbers on each bill. 

The only presentation of solar credits CFE sees fit to disclose on occasion is an accumulada and aplicada. To me this indicates CFE only has a place to store the current balance (acumulada) for solar credits.

If you need to use credits under the rolling dropoff as suggested, the billing system would have to go back to the oldest bucket with a credit and take part or all of it. If that bucket isn't sufficient it would have to start reducing the credit from the second oldest billing period until it ether found enough credits for the current bill or all of the credits were used up.   

That sort of functionality would require  pretty significant programming changes to the billing system after the database was modified. Then they'd have to either load the credit buckets from prior billing history or start accumulating fresh. I don't know the answer but I am keeping a spreadsheet of my credit balance by billing period.

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Good (technical) observation John.   But if they aren't doing something, how does one explain that many/all solar users are generally paying just a small amount bi-monthly when before solar they had a hefty bill? Are they maybe just using the current bi-monthly amount of generated power by the solar cells?

Also, I am curious what the "Su medidor no registró consumo en este bimestre.... Your meter did not record consumption in this two-month period"  might be saying/meaning.

And, yes, hearing from a Solar Company rep who has talked to CFE would be of great value....

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47 minutes ago, RickS said:

Good (technical) observation John.   But if they aren't doing something, how does one explain that many/all solar users are generally paying just a small amount bi-monthly when before solar they had a hefty bill? Are they maybe just using the current bi-monthly amount of generated power by the solar cells?

Also, I am curious what the "Su medidor no registró consumo en este bimestre.... Your meter did not record consumption in this two-month period"  might be saying/meaning.

And, yes, hearing from a Solar Company rep who has talked to CFE would be of great value....

My bills include that statement even in months when CFE has needed to dip into my credits to offset the current month's bill. 

Here is a screen shot of our last CFE bill showing our historic usage.  It shows no historic usage since we installed the solar in August  2017.  There have been a few bills where our usage was greater than what we generated.  However, my usage each month is consistently ZERO?!?!?!? 

Obviously CFE does not display sufficient data on their bills for solar users.  What data CFE captures in their system but does not deign to display on bills, is anyone's guess. 

 

 

Screenshot (18).png

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I think I figured out something looking back at bills.

Last December I used more than I produced with a credit balance. That statement shows the acumulada & aplicada. On all other statements where I produce more than I use that message does not appear. 

Ideally they'd show the acumulada when the aplicada is zero but apparently that is not the case. You either get both or none on the statement.

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Looking back further I erred. I have a $21 peso bill from September 2018 that shows the balance. It also shows an aplicada for the amount I consumed although I produced more than I used. The October 2018 bill shows nothing and then billing changed to bi-monthly. The December 2018 bill for $41 shows the acumulada aplicada when I used more than I produced. This is in Nayarit where the minimums are different.

The February bill shows a zero aplicada and April shows nothing at all. Consistently inconsistent as well as confusing.

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It could be that their billing statements for solar users is just whacko.... when one introduces solar their bills can't be relied on to be accurate with regard to usage and credits.  Were any of your bills EVER accurate after installing solar anyone?

 

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As everyone understands, we can't speak for CFE.   

Having said that, we have not been advised of any changes to the way the credits are handled.      There certainly is an internal tracking process used by CFE that is not shown on the bills.   I believe it to be the same as it has been.     Example:    a central Ajijic client had more use, than production, on their Feb 2019 bill, and it was deducted from their accumulated credit, which was also still shown at that time.   The next bill (mid-April 2019) also had 0 net use from CFE, though it had the INEGI census message and so did not show the accumulated total credit which we appreciate (and agree....)  is frustrating.

What would have been interesting and helpful, when Newfhugger took the time and trouble to go into CFE, was to simply ask them:    What is the credit process, and have there been any changes to it?    However, they only asked about their own account situation - and did not provide us the details, only the current status.....which is insufficient to be of use to others here.....

CFE is nationally regulated by CRE; the local offices don't get to make up their own rules and procedures.....

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