I personally think the point of this is how outrageous electricity is. I don't want to get ripped off so I use less. I am a responsible adult and will use less electricity, not because of the price but because it's the right thing to do. We'll charge you loads and make big profits even if you use less of it. I prefer - we'll charge you a fair price and you use less of it, that way big business and the individual are both making a contribution. Your way V big business still wins and we live in the dark. I want to live comfortably and pay a fair price at the moment Mexico has unfair prices and very rich people laughing all the way to the bank.
I'll admit I don't know what the profitability of CFE may be, or whether it's higher than justified. Life seems to have suggested that Slim has an interest, but I thought he was the telephone guy. If CFE is a privately owned company, I'm still not moved: massive profits amassed by energy related industries are commonplace. I would prefer that there be a concept of "reasonable" profit, but few seem to subscribe to the notion. When I look at corporations, and corporate life around the world, what I see is big corporations providing a life that would be fit for a Czar for many of their top executives: who pays for it? We do.... Redefining what constitutes the "good life" would be a starting point of breaking the grip of these avaricious entities. __________________ When I was a young man, many intellectuals were warning about the rising power and influence of corporations in national life. While corporations have continued to increase their power and influence through the decades, they have attempted to silence the voice of the thoughtful members of society by discrediting the product of science, and other intellectual endeavors, as suited their goal of profitability. The goal was to change us into mindless consuming units which, it seems to me, they have done rather successfully. There are other voices on the planet, however. In the East, there is the voice of the King of Bhutan, who has popularized the concept of "gross national happiness". This is an effort to awaken people to the idea that mindless production of more and more consumer goods, and mindless exploitation of energy resources, and using the planet as a sewer for our industrial waste, would ultimately have a negative impact on the quality of life human beings enjoyed, if carried far enough. It is an appealing concept, and it is still being fleshed out. It may yet catch on.
I wasn't suggesting that per say.. Slim does have his hands in, or a monopoly on, almost everything in Mexico either directly or via proxies, and that has stifled competition and thus ensured prices are artificially high throughout the whole spectrum of Mexican life... I know he was trying to get Pemex to privatize presumably so he could buy it up and control that too. CFE is supposed to be a government entity, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't control lucrative contracts and other related businesses that contribute to the costs. Generally speaking I think Mexico and Mexicans would have been better off had Slim not been so successful...
Every society has those who for reasons of cleverness and avariciousness manage to garner significantly more to themselves and their families than others do. The only force capable of holding this dynamic in check, and preventing the impoverishment of a whole country to the benefit of a few, is the government. People who believe this are often labeled socialist, and so it is. Weak or corrupted governments are unable to hold this dynamic in check. Mexico is an example: the U.S. is becoming an example, as its government slides further under the influence of its big corporations.
As it turns out, the CFE is an electric monopoly that is wholly owned by the Mexican Government, making it appropriate to speak of "government subsidies" of charges for electricity for small consumers, and making the profit issue largely irrelevant, though we could still complain that there is an excessive tax on consumption in the form of excessive rates. From their website- "The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is a company created and owned by the Mexican government. It generates, distributes and markets electric power for almost 33.8 million customers. This figure represents almost 100 million people. The CFE incorporates more than a million new customers every year." No one need "sit in the dark" in Mexico, Matt. The subsidies make very modest consumption of electricity almost free. Use 200 KWH of electricity per month, in the summer, and your bill would be 161 pesos per month, including tax. [Two months usage and fees, divided by two, using 300 KWH@0.617; 100 KWH@0.926, and tax of 16%, tariff 1-C, to calculate the cost for the two months] And, you'll recall that our consumption, running a refrigerator, a laptop a few hours/day, a fan, lights, and occasional use of a toaster, microwave, hairdryer, and TV, resulted in a 3.5 KWH/day rate of consumption: add a few hours of a/c and you're at the 200 KWH/month level that I used in this example. If you wanted to offer an illustration that would allow the use of the a/c most of every day, you could allow consumption of up to 15 KWH/day, and still just be paying 6 US cents per KWH, plus tax, under the current scheme of subsidies. __________________ Our online research on Mexico, before we moved here, alerted us to electric rates as an issue. At the time, we were considering living in Merida where, with its hotter weather, it would have been an even bigger issue. I told my wife that, if we continued to use as much electricity as we were using in Vietnam, our electric bills could hit $225 USD/month (which would have been an all time high, for us). We started thinking about strategies for coping with the heat and economizing on electricity, at the same time. Thinking we'd end up in a colonial home in Merida, we supposed we could chose a smaller room on the interior of the house to use a work/rest area during the day, and cool only that room. Although we didn't end up in Merida, we've continued to apply that approach here in choosing where to live, and how to cool our home. It obviously worked. We neither sit in the dark, nor suffer from the heat (except when we have to go out midday!). We keep one 35 sq meter area cool all day, and cool other rooms only when we are using them. __________________
If you were to look at V's passport, you will see that his middle name is FRUGAL. My bill in the US and I am rarely there, is about $125-$140 per month. This is mostly for the pool and spa pumps. I keep the a/c set at about 86 degrees F for the moisture thing and my housekeeper turns it down when she is there and the day before I return. I should fill the damn pool with dirt and top it off with concrete. I missed the top of the market when I should have turned the place into cash. Now is not quite the time in FL to be selling.
Perhaps you could turn the pool into an exotic fish farm, T.J., raising high dollar tropical fish! What ever happened to the concept of wind-driven, attic fans? Couldn't one or more of these be placed roof to ceiling, with an attractive duct cover visible, in several rooms of the house, drawing air out of the house and freshening the interior? (Can't say whether that would eliminate whatever problems you may be trying to prevent by running the a/c, but what the heck did people do before a/c was invented?) ___________________
There really are no attics here that I have seen. That would make it hard to have an attic fan, but practically, it would be a good idea. Attics would also make a nice place for the iguanas to get out of the sun.
I wish I could find one of those houses with super-cheap electricity! My first apartment in Cancun had a faulty electric water heater (only I didn't know what was causing the problem for 3 years) and my power bills were HORRIBLE! One time (the last bill before the water heater died), the bill was over $7,000 pesos. Yes, over seven THOUSAND. After the water heater was replaced the bills still weren't cheap, by any means. I guess the average bill was $3,000 in Summer months (for 2 months), and around 800-1000 in Winter months. In my current apartment, my landlord pays all power EXCEPT for my air-conditioner, which is on a separate 220v meter. My a/c was broken for 6 or 7 months and I loved those power bills! Only around $35 pesos for two months, since I only pay for a/c usage. Then I got a new a/c and the bills are back to normal. The last was around $1,700 pesos....with moderate use of the a/c. I'm expecting the next bill to be over $3,000 pesos because, since it's been much hotter lately, I'm using the a/c much more than I did during the last billing period. So, in my experience, power in very expensive here and I dread the arrival of the bill. In Denver, the same size apartment, with central heat & a/c would probably cost around $80-150 USD, each month. And, I would have it like an oven in Winter, and like a freezer in Summer. ....but rent is MUCH higher in Denver, so I guess it all balances out.
