CFE Billing and Solar

I purchased a home 4 years ago with 16 installed solar panels. To date, my CFE bills have been O usage across the board so my bill has just been the billing fee of $43 pesos. In June, at the end of the hot season, I had a 220 AC unit installed. They had to put in a new breaker box and hook into that but the 220 was already installed in the house.

I just received a bill for $183 pesos for the past 2 months. I don't understand the bill but I find this suspicious. Understand, that the only thing that has changed has been the addition of the new breaker box and the AC - and because the unit was installed at the end of the hot season it has only been used a total of two hours. (Not a day, but 2 hours total.)

I called and spoke briefly to Bettina as they installed the panels. I thought that perhaps this new box was not connected to the solar panels. She said "that isn't how it works" and blew me off. She said that she felt $183 additional pesos for 2 hours of using an AC was to be expected.

Has something has drastically changed at CFE? To go from a usage of nothing to $183 pesos when I have changed nothing else in the house regarding usage just does not make sense to me.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

A 220 unit will draw a LOT more power than a standard 110 AC unit. Evidently your over-production of power doesn't equal the draw of the 220 unit.

A house I sold had, I think, 18 solar panels, four 220V ACs, total 5.5 T. I never used all the power that the panels produced. In the winter the ACs (heat pumps) were used for heating and during hot or cold weather all units ran a good 16  hours/day.

Depends on the kwh that each panel produces and what else is being used. Can't compare apples to apples otherwise.
If the 16 panels previously JUST balanced out what was being used for a bill of 46 pesos then of course there would be a charge.
Either add more panels or change the AC.
I did it the other way. I wanted an electric heater so I could leave it on at night. I bought the heater first and used it for a month, then calculated how much the heater used (average 8.3 kwh a day) and then ordered how many panels I needed. I'm banking at the moment and nearly have enough to cover 2 months of heater use in the winter.
BTW, that's only a total of five panels (each capable of producing 350 watts per hour daily in perfect conditions) for me. It's a perfect fit and my average (without heater) consumption is 5.5 kwh a day (no pool, no pressurized water or irrigation system, fridge, washer/dryer (3 times a week), lights, tv, 6 ceiling fans, computer and a few peripherals. )

I assume that the 220 unit would pull more power BUT when we last checked, my use is so low and my banked energy amount so great that I was told I could go back on the CFE usage for a year without ever having to pay anything. As I said, the unit has only been used for TWO HOURS. Period. Has CFE stopped banking energy for its solar customers?

Something does sound wrong here. But what? Before one could help or give advice s/he would need to look at your previous bills. And check the two values shown on your digital meter to see how much more if any KWH per month you were giving to CFE versus how much you were taking from CFE.

Oh, and the $46 pesos we pay every two months is for the first 25 KWH of electricity each month whether we use any of it or not.

I know we're allowed to bank again... and the amount banked is supposed to be shown on your CFE bill (but they have 100 days to make that happen again). I wonder if the "zeroing effect" after a fiscal year came into play? Don't know but do know that some solar users are experiencing that. Sigh. Wish the rules would stop changing.
I told Bettina (my system went in around the middle of March) when all this kerfuffle started that I wasn't producing energy for CFE to steal and that, if I didn't get credit (read bank) for what I was producing, that I would cover over two of the panels until I needed them. I don't take well to thieves even corporate ones.

ferret wrote: I don't take well to thieves even corporate ones.

I don't take well to thieves ESPECIALLY corporate ones....

True dat!