# Utility Expenses in Mexico?



## amberbergara (Dec 23, 2014)

I'm just curious on what utilities expenses are like in Mexico, compared to USA? A lot cheaper I am thinking! Electric, water, internet, cable, etc


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Mine was 400 pesos for 2 months (Dec & Feb ) but it was warm so i had the overhead fans on a lot...


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

We recently had to move from our 13 year home in Mexico to Tucson. Utility prices in the USA are shocking! If you stay below DAC consumption rates in Mexico, you will be happy, happy, happy.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

I live in a very small apartment in Mexico City. My electricity bill averages around $150 pesos every two months, except in the coldest months of winter, when I use my R2D2 space heater at night.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

amberbergara said:


> I'm just curious on what utilities expenses are like in Mexico, compared to USA? A lot cheaper I am thinking! Electric, water, internet, cable, etc


For one person, no source of heat or cooling, my utilities run (pesos/month):

Electric: $150-200*
Water: $50
Internet: $600
Propane: $80
Drinking water: $20**
Cell phone with 1GB data: $150

Notes: 
* Only electrical appliances are lights, refri, computer, modem (no TV, Stereo, or electric kitchen gadgets), I do have an electric toaster but mostly use it on rare occasions when I have house guests.
** I use tap water for cooking so purchased drinking water is quite low.


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## mr_manny (Nov 22, 2013)

You mean If I put in one of those solar water heaters, I'm only going to be making a dent on the $80 peso monthly bill?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

mr_manny said:


> You mean If I put in one of those solar water heaters, I'm only going to be making a dent on the $80 peso monthly bill?


I put in a solar hot water system. Before I used one tank of propane every 4 months. Now I use one tank every 5 months. Propane currently costs about $400 pesos/cylinder, 30 kg. It is just used for cooking, but I cook every day and often use the oven for baking bread or pies.

Before installing the solar water system, I only turned on the water heater for 10 minutes when I took a shower. Now I have hot water all day long and use it for washing dishes as well. Also, I had an old hot water heater with no thermostat. I had to turn it on when I wanted hot water and remember to turn it off when I was done. The solar system is worth it for ease of use, but it won't save me any money unless I live to be over 100.


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

Depends on where you plan on living. If it is say on the West coast where it is darn hot most of the year none of the above figures are valid. If you want to live high up or in the North of Mexico your heating costs will be very high. Also remember that everyone's lifestyle is different. Electricity costs are much higher than in the US if you are a couple and have multiple appliances( fridge, freezer, mini splits, yard lights and more). If you live in a smaller home in the Guad area where the temps are stable and not super hot it is cheaper. Water varies from state to state. We pay about $160 a year for city water. Bottled water ( good ones) is about 20 pesos for 19 litres. Phone and internet are very reasonable. One of you biggest costs NOB can be property taxes. In most of Mexico they are so low it is scary. We pay less than $150 a year!


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## mattoleriver (Oct 21, 2011)

TundraGreen, 
you have piqued my curiosity. I am under the impression that you live in the middle of Guadalajara and not in a sparsely populated outlying area. Is it common to use bottled gas in the city? Is (plumbed in) natural gas available? 
Matt


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

mattoleriver said:


> TundraGreen,
> you have piqued my curiosity. I am under the impression that you live in the middle of Guadalajara and not in a sparsely populated outlying area. Is it common to use bottled gas in the city? Is (plumbed in) natural gas available?
> Matt


TG lives in the center of Guadalajara in an old house. I live in the center of Mexico City in an old apartment building. Both of us have to buy bottled gas.


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## mr_manny (Nov 22, 2013)

TundraGreen said:


> The solar system is worth it for ease of use, but it won't save me any money unless I live to be over 100.


TG, on your 100th Birthday....La Fuente, on me


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Isla Verde said:


> TG lives in the center of Guadalajara in an old house. I live in the center of Mexico City in an old apartment building. Both of us have to buy bottled gas.


There probably are places in Mexico with gas lines running to houses, but I can't remember where I have seen it if ever. Most houses either have a tank on the roof that is filled periodically from a truck with a ladder and a long hose, or people buy cylinders and exchange them when they are empty. I have two cylinders so I don't have to worry about running out in the middle of a meal. I exchange the empty one soon after it empties from a truck that drives around the neighborhood exchanging cylinders, a different truck than the tanker truck that drives around refilling roof tanks. The advantage of cylinders is you don't have to remember or calculate when you are low. With a roof tank you need to think about it more. Or maybe you just schedule a refill frequently enough.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


mattoleriver said:



TundraGreen, 
you have piqued my curiosity. I am under the impression that you live in the middle of Guadalajara and not in a sparsely populated outlying area. Is it common to use bottled gas in the city? Is (plumbed in) natural gas available? 
Matt

Click to expand...

_I can´t speak for TG but, just for perspective:
* We live in two single family residences. One in the densely populated and largely poor Seis Esquinas neighborhood in the Ajijic delegation of the municipality of Chapala, Jalisco and one in the even more densely populated urban zone known as the El Cerrillo Barrio in the historic center of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. At both locations, we have propane tanks but many residents use bottled gas as well. The propane tanks are a convenience since they only have to be refilled on occasion whereas the propane bottled gas must be replaced more often. As far as I know, piped in natural gas is not available in Mexico - certainly not in either community in which we reside. Many in both Chapala and San Cristóbal have no source of interior heating including some folks living in the Highland communities of Chapala at +/- 5,000 feet and San Cristóbal at +/- 7,000 feet. We, on the other hand, have propane wall heaters in almost every room in both homes and blast those heaters full bore on some days during the cool seasons at least for a time in the morning until the day warms the houses. Frankly, I don´t see how people can live in the Mexican Highlands without those propane heaters and electric heating for the most part is prohibitively expensive in Mexico. If there is home central heating (or central heating for most businesses for that matter) in Mexico, we´ve never run across it. If one uses bottled propane, the propane trucks roam the neighborhoods selling the refilled bottles. If one utilizes a propane tank, one calls the gas company for delivery when the tank is low many moons after the last refill. 
* We live in comfortable climates almost totally lacking in days with significant hot or cold temperatures and, except for the abovementioned propane heaters, we have no artificial heating or cooling needs and, for cooling, depend solely on ceiling fans for cooling when necessary which is rarely. 
* Despite the moderate and almost always pleasant climates in towns in which we have chosen to live (daytime temperatures normally hover around 70 to 80 Fahrenheit) we have found, over the years, that the cost of electricity in the parts of Mexico where we live is very high if one uses standard electrical appliances even without the dreaded air conditioning so four years ago we installed solar panels on our home at Lake Chapala because the climate there is so amenable and sunshine abundant most of the time. We were using so much electricity we incurred the DAC (highest usage rate) and were paying up to the equivalent of around $200USD or more a month in electrical charges. By supplementing normal CFE electrical usage with electricity we generated on average with the solar panels, we were able to reduce our monthly eléctrical bill from CFE to less than the equivalent of $20USD. Of course, there was a capital outlay for the solar panel system but I calculate we´ll recover that in about four years and from that point on, as CFE rates continue to rise, our elecrical costs will be miniscule by comparison. Whether this will work for the reader is according to where the reader resides. For instance, I calculate the solar system for generating supplemental electricity off the grid won´t work where we reside in Highland Chiapas because the climate there is not (in my estimation) conducive to such a system which depends on lots of bright, sunny days, a characteristic for which the Lake Chapala área is noted but not so Highland Chiapas or, for that matter, a number of other places in Mexico. 

More later on this interesting subject.


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## mattoleriver (Oct 21, 2011)

I just ran across this news item regarding natural gas in Mexico City.
Latin American Herald Tribune - Mexican Capital’s Natural Gas Penetration on Par with Port-Au-Prince


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

What is your point?


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Is that a good idea is an earthquake prone city that is sinking?


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

citlali said:


> Is that a good idea is an earthquake prone city that is sinking?


Good points!


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

citlali said:


> Is that a good idea is an earthquake prone city that is sinking?


Many earthquake-prone cities in the world supply gas to houses through underground pipes, including San Francisco where I lived for many years and you also, I believe. 

It does present a hazard due to pipes breaking during earthquakes. If I recall correctly that was what started the fire that destroyed San Francisco in 1906. In addition to the broken gas pipes, most of the water mains also failed, so there was no water to fight the fires. It is the reason that San Francisco has huge underground cisterns under many intersections and many fire boats that can spray water pumped from the Bay.


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## emilybcruz (Oct 29, 2013)

The answer to this question varies greatly based on where you live, how many people are in your household and what ammenities you have in the home.
I actually have piped in, natural gas and central heating/cooling at my home in Juarez. Thought I might chime in to share that those things actually do exist in Mexico. 

Some side details: It is a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom + den, 2 story home. It's just me and my husband here and we are gone from 6am-6pm Monday-Friday. We have typical weather for Northern Mexico, temps in the 100's in the summer and a couple snows each winter. 

Our utility bills look like this:

Electric: $400-1000 every 2 months*
Water: $230 monthly
Internet & Cable: $380 monthly
Natural Gas: $300-800 monthly**

*Our electric bill averages about $500 every 2 months with the exception of August and October bills when they are closer to $1000 due to using our swamp cooler.
**Our gas bill averages about $300 a month with the exception of our January and February bills when it is closer to $800 due to using the gas heater.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

TundraGreen said:


> With a roof tank you need to think about it more. Or maybe you just schedule a refill frequently enough.


I fill mine and it's good for 6-7 months ($1600 pesos). Tank is near my clothes line so easy to check the gauge one a week if I wanted


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

No idea about San Francisco.Where we live there was no gas available.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

In Paris, gas is longer allowed in apartments for safety reasons so itmay not be that safe in cities that mostly have apartments. Natural gas is piped in houses in someareas of Fance where natural gaz is available.


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