Actual electrical bills

Actual electrical bills

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I've seen the postings about how much lower electric bills are lakeside due to not needing a/c or (very rarely) heat, but could some of you please give me an average monthly electrical bill? I realize that it changes depending on the size of your property, etc, but at least it would give me a general idea. I've seen what the KWH rate is, but that doesn't really mean anything since I have no idea what amount would be used. All of the postings that I've seen (or articles) all say things like $20/month and that just seems a bit low since I could have sworn that the soon-to-be-ex-owner of our soon-to-be-new home had said it was something like $175USD/month. Did I get my wires badly crossed?

Thanks!

Cheri

Oct 13, 2004, 4:32 PM

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Re: [Biggles] Actual electrical bills

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My electric bill for August was $895,and for June $1148

Howard

Suzanne

Oct 13, 2004, 4:36 PM

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Re: [Howard Botz] Actual electrical bills

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Howard,do you hav a/c and how big is you casa?

Jean

Oct 13, 2004, 4:43 PM

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Re: [Howard] Actual electrical bills

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The two month bill I received was 1200 pesos. We were running two computers. No air/heat and no dryer.
Retirement Communities
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Nancy Boyd

Oct 13, 2004, 5:06 PM

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Re: [Jean] Actual electrical bills

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A friend of mine who lives in an 1800 square foot home (U.S. square feet - not counting garage and terraces), and has a one room casita and a pool spends about $180 -$200 U.S. a month on electric. He does not use AC or heat.

Biggles

Oct 13, 2004, 5:54 PM

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Re: [Nancy Boyd] Actual electrical bills

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Guess my wires were straight after all. Thanks for such a quick response, it's much appreciated!

Cheri

bdlngton

Oct 13, 2004, 6:04 PM

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Re: [Nancy Boyd] Actual electrical bills

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Is this number correct? That seems really expensive to me. I live in the Northwest in a 1700 sq ft all-electric house with a heat pump (heat and air conditioning.) I only pay $150 per month for electricity. Don't most homes in Mexico use gas for cooking and heating? What else is that electricity powering?
Susy
Susy

jennifer rose

Oct 13, 2004, 6:14 PM

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Re: [Biggles] Actual electrical bills

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I'm not in the Lake Chapala area, but my last bill was over $3500 M.N. And that's without heat or air conditioning.

Don

Oct 13, 2004, 7:15 PM

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Re: [Biggles] Actual electrical bills

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I don't live in Chapala, but about 1 1/2 hours south. Weather very similar. We don't need heaters very often or air conditioning. Our two month bill averages about $100 U.S. dollars.

Oct 13, 2004, 7:19 PM

Post #10 of 39 (2285 views)

Re: [bdlngton] Actual electrical bills

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I am surprised no one mentioned this. The reason electricity is so high is because the marginal rate is about 20 cents per Kilowatt hour. That's about 3 times as much as I pay Puget Sound Energy in NW WA. For more information on rates go to

http://www.cfe.gob.mx/...n=otros&tarifa=% or simply to the home page www.cfe.gob

You will see that the first 300 kilowatt hours or so are charged at more economical rates, closer to 5 US cents per KW hour, but that the remainder is at this very high rate.

If there ever was a reason to buy high efficiency light fixtures, etc, it's the extremely high rates charged for electricity in Mexico. Luckily we do not need to heat our homes most of the time down here. If we did, the more economical source of BTUs is propane; thats what we use for hot water and cooking. And here in Ajijic although I have an A/C, I only use it about 20 hours per year, or almost never.

I pay about 36 cents per liter for propane or about $1.37 US per gallon

esperanza

Oct 13, 2004, 7:43 PM

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Re: [johanson] Actual electrical bills

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My last electric bill (August 2004) was 363 pesos for July and August. My bill for May and June was 429 pesos. The next bill will come in a week or two; I anticipate that it will be somewhere in between those two figures.

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Oct 13, 2004, 8:04 PM

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Re: [esperanza] Actual electrical bills

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I should add, that unlike the US where when you use a great deal of electricity, the marginal or final rate is less and the first unit used, Mexico has the very logical and opposite method of charging. Mexico charges the lowest rates for about the first 140 or 150 KWH, a little more for the next about 140 KW hours and then three times as much for any electricity used above and beyond these almost 300 KWHours

So if you do not use too much, the rates are reasonable. but use say 600 instead of 300 KWHs the rates would not double, but quadruple.

Marlene

Oct 13, 2004, 8:22 PM

Post #13 of 39 (2261 views)

Re: [esperanza] Actual electrical bills

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Ours here in Mazatlan was $550NM for the month of September. Slightly less for August at $516NM The a/c in one room runs 24/7 from June/July until October. We got a healthy rebate from the Govt, as we do in this area for the summer months. This makes a big difference.

jimindetroit

Oct 14, 2004, 7:31 AM

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Re: [johanson] Actual electrical bills

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Pete,

No one has mentioned solar power yet. Doesn't it exist in Lakeside?

Oct 14, 2004, 7:42 AM

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Re: [Howlew] Actual electrical bills

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My house has three bedrooms and I cannot remember, or locate, the square footage. Since the bills quoted were for four months during the summer there would be no heat (and hopefully none during the winter), and no air conditioning.
Electric bills come every two months by-the-way.
Howard

Oct 14, 2004, 7:46 AM

Post #16 of 39 (2205 views)

Re: [jimindetroit] Actual electrical bills

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I know a lot of swimming pools are heated by solar energy.
Howard

Oct 14, 2004, 7:54 AM

Post #17 of 39 (2189 views)

Re: [jimindetroit] Actual electrical bills

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Solar would be a natural down here. Some of us are using solar panels to help heat our pools. I would think, without knowing much about the subject, that because electricity is so expensive that more folks would try using electrical solar panels.

Sadly if it's happening down here, I don't hear about it.

jimindetroit

Oct 14, 2004, 7:57 AM

Post #18 of 39 (2182 views)

Re: [Howard Botz] Actual electrical bills

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Thanks Howard,

But I was thinking of photovotaic cells and the direct conversion of sunlight into electriciy, stored in batteries. The north central states don't have the direct sunlight Lakeside does, but photovotaics is becoming more popular in this region of the US.

Biggles

Oct 14, 2004, 8:53 AM

Post #19 of 39 (2161 views)

Ooops...follow-up question

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Are the electrical bills issued monthly or bi-monthly?

Cheri

sandykayak

Oct 14, 2004, 9:22 AM

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Re: [johanson] Actual electrical bills

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<<If there ever was a reason to buy high efficiency light fixtures, etc, it's the extremely high rates charged for electricity in Mexico. >>

Pete, these are the funny-shaped light bulbs, right? Any special size/type/wattage tips you can give?
tx
Sandy Kramer
Miami, Fla & El Parque

esperanza

Oct 14, 2004, 11:00 AM

Post #21 of 39 (2126 views)

Re: [Biggles] Ooops...follow-up question

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Electric bills are dated every two months. Here in Ajijic, they come during the last week of the even-numbered months and are due within a few days. They are payable at the Prisa paint store on the highway just west of Calle Galeana.

Other town schedules and places of payment are different.

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Oct 14, 2004, 1:52 PM

Post #22 of 39 (2085 views)

Re: [sandykayak] Actual electrical bills

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To learn more about these high efficiency bulbs, I would go to a store like Lowes or Home Depot, ask for and locate some of these products, read the instructions on a few packages, buy one, take it home, and try it out.

Typically such a bulb costs somewhat more, lasts a longer time than the average incandescent bulb, and produces the same amount of light using a perhaps 13% to 20% of amount of electricity consumed by an incandescent bulb.

Esteban

Oct 14, 2004, 9:32 PM

Post #23 of 39 (2018 views)

Re: [Biggles] Actual electrical bills

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CFE in Mazatlan, also charges different rates according to criteria established in a 6 month period. If you go over 1000 kwh for one month in a six month period, your "tarifa" designation goes to "DAC" which is a much higher rate than what most homes/apts have with the tarifa designation as "1D".

Our bill this month, with an 8000 BTU A/C going 24/7 in one room, was 477 pesos.

Basico 175 kwh 0.485 per/kwh
Intermedio 425 kwh 0.722 per/kwh
Excedente 179 kwh 1.934 per/kwh
Total consumed: 779 kwh total cost: 737 pesos
IVA: 110 pesos
Government subsidy: 372 pesos

Oct 16, 2004, 5:32 AM

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Re: [Esteban] Actual electrical bills

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Here in Ajijic I prefer to pay my electric bill at the machine in the Plaza Bugambilia (between the coffee shop and the car rental place). Since I seldom actually get a 'bill' I just enter the number of my electric meter (you can also scan the bar code of an older bill). The machine tells you how much you owe, and it makes change.
Howard

toocrazy

Oct 22, 2004, 10:51 AM

Post #25 of 39 (1786 views)