# CFE cost in Puerto Vallarta



## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Picture this, 900 sq ft condo in a concrete building, gas stove, gas hot water, gas dryer, no a/c, front balcony facing ocean, and rear balcony facing inland, so good flow through ventilation when both balcony doors open. Does $700-$800 Pesos per month for electric sound about right for January, February and March times of year? It seems lower than what I would think and from what i have read about other similar situations. If that seems about right, GREAT , but if it seems wrong, any thoughts what it should be? Gracias


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

gringotim said:


> Picture this, 900 sq ft condo in a concrete building, gas stove, gas hot water, gas dryer, no a/c, front balcony facing ocean, and rear balcony facing inland, so good flow through ventilation when both balcony doors open. Does $700-$800 Pesos per month for electric sound about right for January, February and March times of year? It seems lower than what I would think and from what i have read about other similar situations. If that seems about right, GREAT , but if it seems wrong, any thoughts what it should be? Gracias


With no A/C, what is using all the electricity. I have a much larger house with a refrigerator, a computer, and various light bulbs (all LED or CF now). I pay about 200 pesos every other month.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

It sounds reasonable to me. I'll send you a PM.


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## Perrier (Dec 18, 2016)

gringotim said:


> Picture this, 900 sq ft condo in a concrete building, gas stove, gas hot water, gas dryer, no a/c, front balcony facing ocean, and rear balcony facing inland, so good flow through ventilation when both balcony doors open. Does $700-$800 Pesos per month for electric sound about right for January, February and March times of year? It seems lower than what I would think and from what i have read about other similar situations. If that seems about right, GREAT , but if it seems wrong, any thoughts what it should be? Gracias


Maybe that's every 60 days. Are you getting the bill yourself or is someone else getting the bill?


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Perrier said:


> Maybe that's every 60 days. Are you getting the bill yourself or is someone else getting the bill?


Those were the figures the seller gave me for when it was occupied by renters for 3 months, the lowest month was $709 pesos, the highest $788. According to him, the renters very seldom used the a/c, if ever, which is why I said "no a/c" but there is a 42" TV, which probably sucks alot of juice if its anything thing like mine.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

The electricity rates are progressive. They vary by part of the country, and they also vary seasonally. Puerto Vallarta is in the 1B tarifa region. The rates are:
Summer:
Basico: up to the first 125 Kwh the price is 0.697
Intermedio: from 125-225 kwh the price is 0.822
Excedente: over 225 kwh the price is 2.802 

Winter:
Basico: up to the first 75 Kwh the price is 0.793
Intermedio: from 75-175 kwh the price is 0.956
Excedente: over 175 kwh the price is 2.802 

These are monthly rates. CFE bills bimonthly. There is also a DAC* rate that kicks in if you go over a limit. For PV, the limit is 800 kwh bimonthly.

If the bill was 709 pesos, the electricity itself was 611. The rest was tax.
Assuming that 709 was for a two month bill, at PV summer rates 611 pesos would buy 250 kwh at the basic rate, 200 kwh at the intermediate rate and 100 kwh at the high rate. So they were likely using in the neighborhood of 550 kwh for two months. At the winter rate, 611 pesos would buy about 450 kwh. If you know what your appliances used in the US, you can get a pretty good idea what you will pay in Mexico.

*DAC - Tarifa Doméstica de Alto Consumo

Rates from:
Tarifas - CFE


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

gringotim said:


> Picture this, 900 sq ft condo in a concrete building, gas stove, gas hot water, gas dryer, no a/c, front balcony facing ocean, and rear balcony facing inland, so good flow through ventilation when both balcony doors open. Does $700-$800 Pesos per month for electric sound about right for January, February and March times of year? It seems lower than what I would think and from what i have read about other similar situations. If that seems about right, GREAT , but if it seems wrong, any thoughts what it should be? Gracias


My friend´s 900 sq. ft. condo is on the 4th floor and is 1 block from the ocean and is a similar set up and his CFE bill every 2 months is $120 pesos, more or less. His neighbor´s condos on the first and second floors don´t get the constant cooling breeze and they use AC and fans all summer. Depends if you are cut off from the cool air, I guess. I was there for 2 weeks 2 weeks ago and it is very comfortable. 2 days of of 15 it was about 40C. and uncomfortalbe to be outside by 11AM so we lounged in different stores all afternoon. The Walmart deli área there across from the port is very different/large/salad/desert bar etc. than any Walmart deli I have seen and good. The worst thing about PV is the filthy metro busses inside and their crazy fast drivers. I gave up and took the overly expensive cabs instead after constant horrible bus rides downtown.


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> his CFE bill every 2 months is $120 pesos, more or less. The worst thing about PV is the filthy metro busses inside and their crazy fast drivers.


The seller sent me copies of his CFE bills, and there is one for Jan, one for Feb, one for March, so guess you can be billed every month if you choose, which would make sense if its rented out and renter pays for electricity used. As for the buses, we only took the blue buses a few times, but found them better than the buses we took the 2 times in Mazatlan last year, and Mazatlan buses were much better than Manzanillo was 5 years ago, but in PV and Maz we couldn't see the road beneath our feet like in Manzanillo, now that was scary:scared:!.


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> . CFE bills bimonthly. .


Seller has sent copies of the bills, separate bill for each month, so guess you can choose to billed monthly


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I've never heard of it working this way in Mexico, but in Thailand I know that the way it usually works is the apartment/condo building owner gets a bill for the whole building from the utility company, and charges residents for electricity and collects it along with the rent. The apartment building owner installs his own meters that measure what each unit uses. Lights in common areas aren't counted by those meters. The rate per kwh the residents pay is set high enough so that the apartment owner gets enough money to pay the whole bill, and maybe adds some profit on top of that for himself. Thus common area lighting is socialized across all residents, prorated according to their own electricity use. It's a common scam to advertise apartments for rent very cheap but jack up the electric cost crazy high to make back the discount. 

If the building is working like that, then the statements you have would not be from CPE but from the condo association, but could very well be monthly. And you should be able to calculate the per kwh charge from the bills to see how badly they are ripping off the residents. 

Places that are higher end have a condo fee and they just pay the common area lighting from that. Since CFE is willing to install per-unit meters and send individual account statements, there is no reason for it to work like Thailand in Mexico unless the building owner wants to make a little money off the electric usage.


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

eastwind said:


> Since CFE is willing to install per-unit meters and send individual account statements, there is no reason for it to work like Thailand in Mexico unless the building owner wants to make a little money off the electric usage.


The bills are from CFE, has his name/ address on it and looks like examples of CFE bills I have seen online. Each condo has there own meters except the new tower in which each condo is billed a set rate per day until meters are installed in a few months.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

I have a 1000 square ft house, lights, fridge, fans, water pump, laptop, no AC, a shop where I run industrial sewing machines and I leave all fans in every room on at least low for about 4-5 months of hot humid weather. Never had a CFE bill that was more than 250p for a 2 month billing period. 
Previous renter may have been using small appliances which suck a lot of juice- think things which heat up very hot very quickly- toasters, toaster ovens, hair dryers, irons, etc.
If not, the place may be poorly wired- not unusual in Mexico.
700-800 pesos per month is not cheap here- it is expensive unless you have AC and a pool or use the above mentioned appliances.


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