rocmoc
Tucson, AZ/Mexico
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mexbungalows. Maybe the only answer is installation and use of sub-meters at each RV site making each camper responsible for the management and payment of their personal energy use. They use this method at Celestino and we had no problems paying our way. The sub-meters are not expensive and are easy to install. We have one on our water well to manage energy use as we share our well with our neighbor. Install only took a couple of minutes. The meters are available on the Internet.
rocmoc n AZ/Mexico
rocmoc n AZ/Mexico
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qtla9111
Monterrey, Mexico
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mexbungalows wrote:I can tell you from first-hand experience that operating a small RV park in Mexico many not be nearly as lucrative as it sounds. Every bimestre I am face to face with a CFE bill that runs to almost eight hundred dollars (amounting to forty nights income). La Comision Federal de Electriciad has a top tier price per kWh that approaches fifty-cents-per (US). Really big parks can pay the thousands upon thousands of dollars to get commercial power and pay the deposits. But the power company has a stinging minimum per-month (things aren't free in the off season for large commercial users).
Since I operate under a pension I am not forced to try and rely on income from the park. I have to subsidize it modestly just about every month. My payback is in the form of enjoying watching several local families have a better life-style because both señor y señora are employed.
Some folks are shocked when I tell them that running their roof air will cost us seven dollars twenty-cents every twelve hours. French Canadians especially do not believe me when I tell them the cost of power (even when I politely wave the bill under their nose). You folks in Canada must be spoiled with very modest electrical fees.
One way of helping a small park survive is to not load down the electrical hookup because "no one seems to be watching". Mexicans would never think to bring an issue like this out into public. Instead they are likely to secretly despair and quietly decide to close the park. I have had a number of conversations with Mexican park owners and after they establish my bonifides as a fellow park operator they tend to open up somewhat. Many sales or conversions of RV parks in Mexico were done not necessarily because the land value rose to the point of irresistibility, but because the margin of profit decayed to the point of despair.
I know the pain of the CFE. My usage for each bimestral is less than 1000 Kwh and I am paying 3500 pesos. I'm sure you are way ahead of the game but I recently got an estimate on a transformer (subestacion) for a cost including installation and permits of 61,000 pesos. This may sound high but I could double my monthly usage and still pay about 1200 pesos less bimestral. I believe the cost for commercial use on the subestacion is a bit higher but I can easily see the payoff of doing this. Most people I know in San Antonio are using 1000 to 1500 Kwh per month and paying 280 to 350 a month. I would still be ahead of the energy game.
In my bill I do not receive the subsidies of basico y intermedio. My tarifa is labeled DAC the most costly residential rate only because the average usage in the area is less than 800Kwh, so I pay a premium price. I fought it for five years and the subestacion is the only solution.
Our new place has CFE service but the rate for the area is less than half of where we live now. We are still planning on going solar. I refuse to pay these rates the rest of my life and be in debt to the CFE.
1998 Nissan Pathfinder
2004 Shadow Cruiser 18ft.
Living and Boondocking Mexico
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mexbungalows
las peñas, michoacan, mexico
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Joined: 06/01/2007
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Hola qtla9111
In a tiny village it gets complicated. La Comision informed me that they would not pay to run a transmission line tap four hundred meters to the edge of the property. The number they gave me make my knees buckle. It was something like fourteen thousand dollars, plus seven thousand for the transformer. The monthly minimum for this service is 990 kWh which is discouraging because we use one-fifth of that for eight-months of the year.
The office staff at the office in Lazaro Cardenas, warned me that it would be a "delito" to install sub meters in the system. They claimed that if their personnel discovered a sub meter that my service would be "inmovilizado" which I guess involves a large pair of shears.
In my opinion Mexico took the easy road when diesel fuel was fifteen cents US per gallon back in the early eighties and before. Many of their rural plants especially in Baja California Sur are diesel generators. I cannot understand why the government petroleum company does not give the government electricity company some kind of a price break on fuel. I heard that oil refineries in Mexico pay "Full Bore" for electrical power.
I am searching out the feasibility of having three service drops, and then switching each and all to utilize the bottom 2 pricing tiers. In the summer this would amount to 1,200 kWh costing around a hundred twenty dollars (For you folks that don't understand this stuff --- after 1,200 kWh the price would jump to thirty cents US per kWh and just after another two hundred kWh soar to fifty cents a kWh). Here in the states I am allowed a medical allowance of 1,000 kWh which costs eighty-seven dollars. Three hundred and thirty dollars in Mexico for the same amount of power. Just one solitary tiny window air conditioner will cost twenty five cents per hour. Couple that with TV and satellite, a refrigerator and freezer and soon you are looking at a meter ticking off fifty cents an hour (Oh, did I forget lights, toaster, water boost pump, etc?
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qtla9111
Monterrey, Mexico
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It's just awful. One of the biggest reasons we pay so much for power here in Mexico is that so many people are "colgados", tapping freely into the power lines. It is killing manufacturing plants and business with the prices of electric and natural gas.
Multiple meters or contracts is a possibility depending on how you do it. You might be able to separate the house you live in on one meter, and the park on another.
The problem I have encountered is that most of the CFE employees are not well-versed in their own business. I have had to give several an education on the use of solar power.
My personal opinion (please do not hold me to a contract on this) is to not give up. In many parts of Mexico, there now exists energy consultants who know the regulations set forth by the CFE. It may be worth investigating. For more info, contact me via email or PM.
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DanHouck
Ajijic, Mexico
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Joined: 07/03/2003
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I can attest to the truth the previous posters are stating. CFE is a grossly inefficient government run mess that has sky high electric rates and bad service. We pay 32 cents per kWh here in Lake Chapala for power that is chronically low voltage. The wiring is a mess, there is theft everywhere.
Mexico is very much held back by their insistence on government run power and oil. One can only hope they come to their senses at some point, for their own good. CFE is a huge drag on the economy of Mexico.
Dan & Ann D.
1998 Country Coach Allure 36'
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rocmoc
Tucson, AZ/Mexico
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DanHouck posted, "Mexico is very much held back by their insistence on government run power and oil. One can only hope they come to their senses at some point, for their own good. CFE is a huge drag on the economy of Mexico."
IMHO, This will not occur until you have an educated public and that is not happening fast. A well read educated person is harder to control, take advantage of & flat out frighten/scare. I know there are those who say there are privileged persons supporting change, but Carlos Slim's eyeglasses & bicycle program is not the same as providing education beyond the 6 grade.
Just my 2 cents.
rocmoc n AZ/Mexico
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DanHouck
Ajijic, Mexico
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One of the reasons we moved to Mexico (unable to edit profile for corrected location) is to get away from the constant in-your-hair and pocket government (all levels) in the U.S.
* This post was
edited 08/20/08 11:08am by an administrator/moderator *
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rocmoc
Tucson, AZ/Mexico
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IMHO, the USA educated public is not as educated as it use to be, relative to today's more complex world, and has not kept up with the times. Example, how many of the USA public has an understanding of Economics or Finance. The savings rate and approval of endless spending, both personal & governmental, supports my position. No matter how much money is thrown at the education system, graduation rates have continued to lower.
TOM, please be patience with us. Thus far, this has been friendly and informative. WE will pull this back to Mexico. Point is, more needs to be done to educate the Mexican Public so better long-term decisions can be made for Mexico. Mexico can not operate as if they are still in the early 1900's.
rocmoc n AZ/Mexico
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moisheh
North America
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Joined: 05/04/2002
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THe figures I have seen are that 10 % of the electricity is stolen. But that figure is low. Many Mexicans actually can bypass the meter. The CFE are a bunch of bunglers who could not run a lemonade stand! The workmanship on their poles ( connections) is horrible. We were having trouble with brownouts. I have a 125 amp system and ample size wires to the pole. My electrician said it is the transformer. I agreed. After 3 months of calling and them sending out a clown who new nothing I exploded. One of these clowns told me they only have to supply 50 amps of power @120 volts. I went to Hermosillo to the customer service building. A new glass and concrete monstrosity that must have cost $500,000 ! But the only human in the building is a security guard. They have these kiosks with a computer and utilize Netmeeting so you can communicate with an imbacil who is miles away!! I finally went to another office and got a real person. Within 4 hours they hooked me up to a new transformer with no other customers!!! The CFE bills state they are ISO9000. I queried them as to how it is possible for the CFE to comply. Turns out that only the billing dept. is certified to ISO standards! Only in Mexico!!!
Mexbungalos:
We were at a park in Patzcuaro and he had just rewired the whole place. He installed 15 amp plugs at each site with a a 15 amp breaker box. No worries about RV'rs using electric heat or AC. I thought it was a good idea. I know that many of the parks have 3 phase service as it is cheaper than monophase.
Moisheh
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