power plays

One of the true pleasures in having solar power is that my CFE bills almost always bring good news.

Good news, that is, if you consider bills of 50 pesos for two months of electricity to be good news. And, I usually do.

I have now had my solar array at the house with no name for two years. Because the panels generate enough electricity (and more) to power my home, CFE (our local electricity provider) only charges me the connection fee for my two meters. Every two months, I have paid 42 pesos on one meter and 41 on the other.

Earlier this month, I noticed a comment on Facebook that CFE was now charging 50 pesos every two months for the connection fee. When my bills arrived over the weekend, I discovered that was true -- and has been since the start of 2021.

I had not really noticed the change because about 18 months ago, I deposited enough money in both accounts to let me not worry whether or not I was in town when the bills arrived. It would be rather embarrassing to have my power shut off over a 41-peso late payment.

It appears that my deposit on one of the accounts has been exhausted. With a credit from what remained in my account, I owe 38 pesos for the 50-peso connection fee. There was no surprise there. Thanks to Facebook.

But when I turned over the bill to see my usage history, I was surprised. During the months I relied solely on my solar array for power, the usage shows "0." That makes sense. But this is what I found surprising.

Apparently, last November I used more power than my panels generated. And I do not know why. That is the period when power usage drops at my house. The only increase in power at the house is in August through September when I turn on the air conditioning in my bedroom. Otherwise, the house has a rather steady usage.

What happened in October-November? I have no idea. And why is there no increased usage in the summer months when the air conditioning comes on?

I suppose all of that is academic. Whatever caused the spike in usage, it fell within my annual accumulation of credits. I was not charged for the excess power -- no matter how anomalous it is.

I am happy that I had the solar array installed. The only baffling experience has been my interface with CFE.

First, the promised cash paybacks were cancelled by the new Mexican government -- in a move that makes a lot of people wonder how Mexico is ever going to meet its Paris Accords commitments with its rather negative take on solar power. THe answer is that it isn't.

Then, it is the very odd bills I receive showing an increase in power when there should be a decrease shown and there is no increase shown in the summer when spikes obviously did take place.

Maybe this is the moral. As long as I am required to only pay my connection charge to CFE, all is well. What once was promised as cash simply disappears now at the end of the year. There is no sense in crying over spilt electricity at this point.

Do any of you who have solar power experience such oddities? Would you care to share your own speculative theories?