After living in Mexico for a year, I'd like to share perspective on the issue of electricity cost.
Today I paid our electric bill. It was 308 MXN for the two months (Oct/Nov). For all but one week we had house sitters here. This is a little more than when we are here. The two months (Aug/Sep) when we were here except for three weeks of the billing period when the house was empty our bill was 206 MXN. That means that our electricity cost for Aug/Sep was equivalent to around $10 USD for the two months and in Oct/Nov it was $16.50 for a total of just over $26 for four month.
I am posting this because I had heard before we came down that the cost of electricity in Mexico was very high. I want to show that it does not have to be. The reason, I think, why people say that it is high is that many of the gringos that come here are energy hogs and get caught in the multi-tied billing system.
Let me illustrate by the bill I paid today. We used 297 kWh. We were billed for the first 150 kWh at 0.793 for a charge of 118.95. The next 130 kWh were billed at 0.956 per kWh for a charge of 124.28. We only got into the third tier for 17 kWh which were billed at 2.802 per kWh for a charge of 47.63. There is another tier after this and we've not gotten there so I am not sure what the charge is but I don't want to find out.
Please notice that the tiers go from 0.793 to 0.956 to 2.802. So there is a jump of almost tripling once you get into the third tier. This makes people who are very poor and/or frugal pay less for their usage and therefore makes it possible for lower income individuals to have some lights or appliances that use electricity and not have to pay too much money to run them. But gringos who leave lights on and run fountains and pumps and other "luxury" items have to pay quite a bit more if they consume a large amount of electricity. Buddy and I have a water pump to run our water filter and get water to the tank on the roof and we have a jacuzzi that has jets and heater. But the fridge is an energy star and we don't run the electric dryer. Other than lights, electric gate, computers and such we don't use much electricity.
So my point is that it really pays to conserve and it really costs to be unaware and careless in your energy usage.
My last point is that a lot of people around Lake Chapala have installed solar panels. We just don't find that cost effective. It would take us the rest of our lives to get a return on such an investment. We have friends who have eight solar panels on their house and still pay the equivalent of $2 a month.
I welcome you sharing your story and perspective.
Today I paid our electric bill. It was 308 MXN for the two months (Oct/Nov). For all but one week we had house sitters here. This is a little more than when we are here. The two months (Aug/Sep) when we were here except for three weeks of the billing period when the house was empty our bill was 206 MXN. That means that our electricity cost for Aug/Sep was equivalent to around $10 USD for the two months and in Oct/Nov it was $16.50 for a total of just over $26 for four month.
I am posting this because I had heard before we came down that the cost of electricity in Mexico was very high. I want to show that it does not have to be. The reason, I think, why people say that it is high is that many of the gringos that come here are energy hogs and get caught in the multi-tied billing system.
Let me illustrate by the bill I paid today. We used 297 kWh. We were billed for the first 150 kWh at 0.793 for a charge of 118.95. The next 130 kWh were billed at 0.956 per kWh for a charge of 124.28. We only got into the third tier for 17 kWh which were billed at 2.802 per kWh for a charge of 47.63. There is another tier after this and we've not gotten there so I am not sure what the charge is but I don't want to find out.
Please notice that the tiers go from 0.793 to 0.956 to 2.802. So there is a jump of almost tripling once you get into the third tier. This makes people who are very poor and/or frugal pay less for their usage and therefore makes it possible for lower income individuals to have some lights or appliances that use electricity and not have to pay too much money to run them. But gringos who leave lights on and run fountains and pumps and other "luxury" items have to pay quite a bit more if they consume a large amount of electricity. Buddy and I have a water pump to run our water filter and get water to the tank on the roof and we have a jacuzzi that has jets and heater. But the fridge is an energy star and we don't run the electric dryer. Other than lights, electric gate, computers and such we don't use much electricity.
So my point is that it really pays to conserve and it really costs to be unaware and careless in your energy usage.
My last point is that a lot of people around Lake Chapala have installed solar panels. We just don't find that cost effective. It would take us the rest of our lives to get a return on such an investment. We have friends who have eight solar panels on their house and still pay the equivalent of $2 a month.
I welcome you sharing your story and perspective.
