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I just received our electric bill from the CFE (Comision Federal de Electricidad). Here, more so than in other countries the game of what you pay is based on how much you consume and knowing what the limits are.
Billing cycles in Mexico are bi-montly (every two months) except for three areas located in the Monterrey-Metro area where the billing is monthly. Supposedly the monthly billing cyle is a test phase but it has been in that stage now for 13 years that I know of.
So how does it work? The CFE allows the consumer three basic service levels; basic (the first 150 kwh), intermediate (the second set of 150kwh), excedente (which is over the first three hundred kwh) and then you are pretty much screwed. Exceed 799 kwh and you will be put into the highest rate scale and remain there for six months during which you must maintain less than the 799kwh.
What is the pricing?
Basic (first 150kwh) .05 cents U.S.
Intermediat151 to 300 kwh) .09 cents U.S.
Excedente (301 to 799kwh) .17 cents U.S.
DAC (800kwh and over) .23 cents U.S.
Imagine running a household on 400kwh per month? Not an easy task. What we did was change all our interior lights to compact fluorescent light bulbs, LED spots on the porch, living room ceiling and some interior table lamps. We also changed out the well pump to a newer more efficient motor and put a timer on the pool. Although the recommended filter use on a pool is eight hours a day, we run ours for one hour. Now that winter is here, I run the filter twice a week and that seems to keep it clean along with heavy chlorination.
We use gas LP in tanks to heat the house. LP has its cost but it is easier to control usage and you pay in advance.
In our new house (somewhere in the near future) we want to use solar as much as possible. I have been doing my reading on solar panels, energy storage, and inverters. I know it is a huge investment up front, but I doubt we will ever see a decrease around the world in the cost of electricity.
Our electric company does help out by selling compact fluorescents and offering discounts on high efficiency air conditioners and giving you the opportunity to pay for them over six months via your electric bill.
So how do our prices compare to yours?
Your 400 works out to $.11/kw. For comparison, our AZ current bill works out to $.095/kw. When we lived in No. Cal. 10 years ago we were paying near $.17/kw. Maybe not too bad depending on where you live and the income of the area. AZ's ave. income is pretty low compared to the rest of the country. Great place to retire but tough if you are still working in a lot of cases.
ReplyDeleteForgot to state that we just had a rate decrease. Last year we were paying $.11/kw.
ReplyDeleteI'm so into DAC, I don't have AC but I do have quite a few pumps so I'm interested in what low energy pumps you found. Also, CFE sells you compact florescent bulbs? I haven't seen that, they are very expensive and you have to search to find the 'warm' ones.
ReplyDeleteOur electric bills started through the roof when Calderón and Mouriño began running the CFE. We're being charged for far more kWHs than we're consuming -- simply by adding up the rated values of our appliances -- but we have no recourse because the CFE owns the official measuring device.
ReplyDelete