When the numbers don't agree
A gap between what your system reports and what your utility bills you for isn't automatically a crisis — but it's not something to ignore either. Here's how to tell which one it is, and exactly who to call.
Most deltas have a boring, real cause. Check these before assuming a fault:
A single low-production day that lines up with actual overcast or rain isn't a fault — it's the system working correctly. Check what the sky actually did before checking anything else.
Your panels' total generation includes power your home used directly. Your utility bill often only counts what got exported to the grid. A high-usage day can look like "missing" production when it was actually just consumed on-site.
Utilities often batch and validate meter reads before publishing them. A day or two of lag, or a "true-up" period at the end of your billing cycle, is normal and not a sign anything is broken.
If low or zero production lines up with clear, sunny days — not just one day, but several in a row — that's not weather. That's a system fault, and every day it goes unaddressed is lost export credit you don't get back automatically.
Log into your solar system's own app (Enphase, SolarEdge, Tesla, etc.) and look at daily production for the affected dates. If it shows near-zero on days you know were sunny, the system itself confirms the fault — this isn't a billing error, it's a generation problem.
Before you call anyone, check your monitoring account's access or ownership settings (on Enphase, this is "Access Control"). If you lease your system or have a power purchase agreement, a financing or fleet management company — not you — may be listed as the Owner. That's who's contractually responsible for fixing it, and often the only account that can authorize a technician visit.
Whether that's your installer, your lease company, or yourself if you own the system outright: report the exact dates, the production numbers on those dates, and the fact that weather doesn't explain them. Specific numbers get a faster response than "my bill looks wrong."
Once the system is confirmed fixed, ask your utility whether the outage period qualifies for a billing adjustment or credit correction — utilities vary in how they handle this, but it costs nothing to ask, and you'll want the outage dates and cause documented when you do.
If the responsible party is unresponsive, most states have a utilities commission that handles solar billing and net-metering disputes (in California, this is the CPUC). For a lease or PPA, your contract likely has a performance guarantee clause worth reviewing — a prolonged, unaddressed outage may qualify for a credit under it.
Every step above goes faster with dated evidence in hand: the dates of the outage, your system's own production numbers for those dates, and the local weather for the same period. This is exactly what a SolarYaya account keeps automatically, so if this ever comes up, you're not rebuilding a timeline from memory — you already have it.
Your solar sales rep told you the array would cover all your energy needs. The Production and Use Generator showed you differently. Now what?
On Real-Time Watch and Household plans, the Production and Use Generator compiles all of it — every flagged shortfall day, every reviewed billing period, and the estimated dollars involved — into one dated PDF, ready to hand to an installer, a leasing company, or an attorney. It's built from your own logged data only; it states facts, not conclusions, and it isn't a substitute for legal advice.
Get flagged the same day production and sunshine stop agreeing.