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A friend from Mexico city was complaining that he was charged the equivalent of US$180 for two months for 636kWh of electricity. Assuming 61 days that works out to an average wattage of 434W. I assume that is a refrigerator, some fans and pumps, home electronics, lighting and possibly a kitchen appliance. Cooking, hot water, and heat are natural gas, and there is no air conditioner.
I have some questions. What is typical Amperage for a Mexican residence? I understand that prior to WWII 60 Amps was more or less standard for US residence. Does a typical Mexican home have several circuits or do you just blow the fuze on the entire home. Do they use fuzes or circuit breakers.
Do they require 20 Amp circuits leading to outlets in kitchens and bathrooms? Do they have GFCI outlets in a home?
WTF is that price for such little usage? That is almost 30 cents per kWh. Is that just Mexico City, or is electricity that expensive in other cities? I thought they had a tiered price for electricity in Mexico to give a break to low electricity usage. They bill every other month in Mexico Where I am in PA there is a $14.27 per month customer charge. So for two months that would be $28.54. A total of 636 kWh would cost $75.81 . Now I know it is much higher price in NYC per kWh, but not as high as it seems to be in Mexico city.
Last edited by PacoMartin; 07-01-2016 at 03:20 PM..
I'm in Baja and the CFE is the same power company in Mexico ( my x-wife was a senior exec with them for 25 yrs)
Just pulled out my current bill for a comparison.
Normally I have paid $104 USD for approx. 500kwh and do on occasion get a lower bill of $54 (current) A form of discount given for what I have NO idea as they talk about a consumption issue.
I do have propane heat or electric heater during the colder months and 5 ceiling fans (each room) during the warm/hot days so it is one or the other cost wise.
I am retired/widower by the beach and do have elect water heater along with normal kitchen appliances.
As for the cost, discounted or not is still a lot cheaper then the US.
Propane or Elect stove is a toss up.......most have Propane.
Water in a ground tank (pila) (holds 800 Gals) costs me $20 every 5 weeks for a 500 Gal delivery for every day needs of kitchen, shower, toilet. Cooking/drinking water is purchased in 5 Gal bottles for about 15 cents a Gal. (refilled)
Mexico City has a water pressure problem so most if not all homes have a ground tank (pila) for water to trickle into and a holding tank on the roof that is filled via a pump for a gravity feed. (lived there for three yrs)
Normally I have paid $104 USD for approx. 500kwh and do on occasion get a lower bill of $54 (current) A form of discount given for what I have NO idea as they talk about a consumption issue.
The ‘Domicilio alto consumo’ (DAC) residential segment pays the highest electricity tariff of around 28 USDc per kWh.
Electricity in the lower consumption brackets is heavily subsidized.
The basic idea is that you pay a tiered rate which is very cheap for the first few kWh, then a second price for the next few kWh, then finally the DAC rate. What I don't understand is these rates seem to change both with region and with season. It seems to me that they can't change month to month, but it depends on your long term usage.
$104 USD for approx. 500kwh is about 20 USDc per kWh. But maybe you pay a much lower rate for your first couple of kWh and then higher than 20 USDc for your last few kWh.
You may pay a higher rate, but your usage is very low compared to most people who live in the States.
What is the rate where you live? 1, 1A, ... . It should be on your cfe bill
But I don't understand if those numbers are the average consumption per month. But 2500 kWh per month is fairly heavy usage. What region should that be?
Last edited by PacoMartin; 07-01-2016 at 05:52 PM..
Just did a new take on my bill and am Domestico, Tarifa 01, Hilos 2, Multi (1) consume 458kwh
Costo de produccion $1,671.05
Aportacion $929.07
Am not too worried as it is reasonable for me as I use a Elect air compressor etc (retired mechanic) working on my cars engine repairs and what not.
In looking at my past bills they have been in the bracket of 450-650 range.
Hilos 2 just means you have 220V service. Hilos 1 would mean you only have 110V service.
Multi 1 is an option for a multiplier. Normally there is no multiplier (i.e. mult=1)
So what do you owe? Is it $91 or $51 dollars?
1,671.05 MXN = $91 USD
929.07 MXN = $51 USD
It sounds like the average of your last six bills has to come below 500 pesos to qualify for the inexpensive rate. It sounds like you are close. You may not qualify anyway as you are not a Mexican citizen.
The samples online always have a three tiered rate. Maybe that is for citizens as well.
I just paid my current bill this week of $934.00 Pesos so with the current exchange rate going between 16.5 to 18.0 to $1 USD this week your guess is as good as mine with what cost.
Anyway did a avg on what I paid over the last 8 (2 month billings) and it was about $1,400.00 Pesos then DROPPED on this bill.
Being here for many years my bills were always in the high bracket while my usage was always constant and then it dropped all of a sudden.
Based upon the scale shown I was pushing into the pink/red zone and my cost JUMPED.
Do hope this discussion is not boring to some but just an educational insight with what goes on here in Mexico.
With a Mexican wife and the home she had originally purchased thru the CFE ages ago the Elect was FREE while she owned the home (company perks) Got a bill that I paid at the bank and then a REFUND check was mailed back...go figure.
I just paid my current bill this week of $934.00 Pesos
Well the key thing is that you paid Aportacion and not the Costo de produccion
Costo de produccion $1,671.05
Aportacion $929.07
I am curious if there is a breakdown where you paid a really low rate for the first 150 kWh, then a higher rate for the next 150 kWh, and finally an extremely high rate for the final 158 kWh (150+150+158= 458kwh).
If you do pay a tiered rate you are extremely motivated to save electricity as much as possible to try and get usage as close to 300 kWh as possible. In other words go to San Diego and replace every light bulb with an LED bulb and avoid the space heater if at all possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Bagu
Do hope this discussion is not boring to some but just an educational insight with what goes on here in Mexico.
Well it also is interesting from an economic perspective. While some items like basic food are much cheaper in Mexico, generally infrastructure costs like tolls, gasoline, electricity, etc. are much higher. Tiered pricing is a bigger incentive to be conservative if cost per kWh goes down by 50% or more if you can go below a certain level.
While I pay an average of $7.70 per day for electricity on a really bad day it could approach $17. But if I had to pay a much higher rate in addition to high usage, I would be more motivated to control the space heaters.
I have a Electric water heater that is hooked up to a timer that comes on twice a day. 5AM for one hr in the morning needs and at 2 PM for my shower and kitchen needs. Twice a day supplies me with enough hot water. Doing laundry I will bypass the timer for one hr that also works.
I look at things this way. Electric or Propane is a off shoot in a way.......it's one or the other.....life goes on.
EDIT: My Electric (6yr warranty) water heater is over 20yrs old.....no Propane/Natural Gas will last that long.
Last edited by Steve Bagu; 07-03-2016 at 09:51 AM..
Reason: add info
So if you used 436 KW on your last 2 month bill, it sounds like even if you you are in zone #1 you might be averaging less than 250 kWh/month for the previous 12 months.
One peso is 5.4 cents . So your rate is even lower than my rate of 12 cents per kWh + $14.27 fixed monthly fee.
When LED bulbs were $25-$30 apiece there was not much incentive to replace all but the most heavily used bulbs. But the electric company began subsidizing the bulbs at the local Home Depot and they were as low as $3. The payback period could be measured in months rather than decades.
I imagine LED bulbs are more expensive in Mexico as most electronics are higher priced.
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