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Two or three weeks ago our maid, was doing her monthly house check when she discovered the electricity had been shut off.  She checked the panel in the house and it was OK.  The electric meter at the street screen was blank.

We assured her all CFE payments were paid directly by BBVA Bancomer and noted the minimum payments were made on December, 2020 and February 2021.   

Our maid contacted the CFE and was told that we owed $7,543. They said that we were informed by some blue papers left at the house. The CFE would not tell her what this amount was for.  She checked this week and no one in our condo has seen any blue papers and they were not in our house or mail box.  We have no idea what this is about.

We are often away for extended periods of time and the house is not occupied in our absence. In 2019, after we had again just returned to Ajijic, we reported to the CFE, in person, that our old style meter wasn't working properly. The CFE immediately installed a new electronic style meter. Everything worked fine.

We have not been in Mexico since the end of March, 2020 due to COVID.  We expect to return in October 2021 after getting vaccinated and allowed to travel again.

The power is turned off at the panel so we don't use any electricity when away.  Do they think because of the lengthy period of minimum billing that we're stealing electricity and have made an arbitrary decision demanding this fee to turn the electricity back on?  What can we do other than pay when we're stuck here in Canada? 

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We had our Meter Borrowed? Likely by a small time contractor who kindly donated their old meter during their construction. Once their construction was completed our meter, now much advanced with additional kilowatt/hrs was returned. Resulting in a huge $2.500± extra pesos on our Tab which we paid. CFE sent 2 people to examine our home, testing for any leakage to stray neighbours. None found, so while we were relegated to the DAC for one period as opposed to 6 months, they did acknowledge that our consumption never came close to that amount before or after. We sucked it up & had a massive cage constructed of 5/8" steel & dbl locks. There was evidence that our meter had been re-mortered & repainted in place by the thief, nice touch!

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Yes it does happen I personally know someone that was working on his CFE meter ( the house had been rented and the owner came down for a short while)  the next CFE bill was 7500 it was usually 500 pesos.  They went to CFE with all last bills and they accepted the bill as 500pesos.  It became known who put the meter there for the reading then moved it back. 

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Here in Raquet Club, many people did not receive bills this month, so a last minute sprint to the office was necessary. My landlord's caretaker usually presents me with the $1000+ bill the day it's due.  This two month period was more than double and I was astonished--wow I guess light use of electric heaters really does add up! I turned off all exterior lights and the fan upstairs.  Later I closely examined the bill and I was not credited with the last bill's payment even though I have a stamped receipt.  The caretaker explained in colorful sign language that the CFE office was a total mess right now.  I hope Dough's problems relate to CFE's current issues and not power theft.  

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3 hours ago, mkshawn said:

We had our Meter Borrowed? Likely by a small time contractor who kindly donated their old meter during their construction. Once their construction was completed our meter, now much advanced with additional kilowatt/hrs was returned. Resulting in a huge $2.500± extra pesos on our Tab which we paid. CFE sent 2 people to examine our home, testing for any leakage to stray neighbours. None found, so while we were relegated to the DAC for one period as opposed to 6 months, they did acknowledge that our consumption never came close to that amount before or after. We sucked it up & had a massive cage constructed of 5/8" steel & dbl locks. There was evidence that our meter had been re-mortered & repainted in place by the thief, nice touch!

Nice idea but CFE said no cages around the meters. Another made up rule.

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A little while back, some one came to the house wanting to change our meter, My wife refused as ours worked fine. Now she tells me that those who did change are now getting bills 4 times the cost. Anyone else hear anything like this? 

Truthfully I am shocked by how low our bill is, as it has only been $25 peso each month 

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Something wrong with that Northtek since there is a 47 peso administration charge every two months even if you use NO electricity. Unless of course, you have solar electricity that is covering your use. That would make your 25 peso bill per month perfectly normal.

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If you are only paying 25 pesos a month.... and you don't have solar.... I for one would construct a steel cage around that meter so that CFE didn't come by one day and jerk it out to install a new one!  Then put a camera out by it and don't answer the door bell if you see from within your house that it is CFE workmen....

 

 

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47 minutes ago, RickS said:

If you are only paying 25 pesos a month.... and you don't have solar.... I for one would construct a steel cage around that meter so that CFE didn't come by one day and jerk it out to install a new one!  Then put a camera out by it and don't answer the door bell if you see from within your house that it is CFE workmen....

 

 

No I am not using solar for power, I have a solar water heater, but that's it. we use gas for the stove and additional water heater if needed, but everything else is electrical. Mind you, I don't have A/C yet and everything is low consumption. But to be honest, I have no idea why our bill is so low, just thankful that it is. 

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If I remember right, one must pay for at least 30Kw hours per month whether you consume that 30 KW hours or not and when because your meter is not working. So, you are going to get a bill for the equivalent of at least about $25 pesos even if you are consuming no electricity.

So the big question how many KW hours does this bill show you have used during the latest billing period. And what are the dates of this billing period? There is almost no way, unless you turn everything off and or have solar that you can use 30 or fewer kilowatt hours during a 30 day billing period. I strongly suspect, Northtek that your meter is not correctly measuring the amount of electricity you are consuming.

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1 hour ago, Northtek said:

But to be honest, I have no idea why our bill is so low, just thankful that it is. 

If it is a dial meter, and it probably is, it is either defective or rigged.     If it is rigged, and / or CFE finds a "diablito", they can assess back estimated costs plus fines.     I'd get it documented, changed, and straightened out ASAP.    Has happened to many people, don't be one of them......

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1 minute ago, virgo lady said:

Has happened to many people, don't be one of them......

I would agree with this, we've seen it numerous times.     My reco would be to find the issue and get it corrected, possibly by a very good private electrician but be sure there is no evidence of tampering.     If solar is planned, then do it right after that.

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sure thing, I will take a look as my wife handles that bill. All I know is that she asks me for the money and I give it to her. Fact is she was the one who set up everything here as she was born here and knows more about it than I do. But so far she has done well, as our bills are significantly lower than others I talk too.  So marring a local seems to have its perks. 

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I don't believe it is possible to pay 25p a month, unless someone did the ol' diablito trick on your meter. My suspicion is you will one day be smacked with a huge bill when the CFE realizes something is not right. If I were you I'd definitely have it checked out.

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20 hours ago, mkshawn said:

We had our Meter Borrowed? Likely by a small time contractor who kindly donated their old meter during their construction. Once their construction was completed our meter, now much advanced with additional kilowatt/hrs was returned. Resulting in a huge $2.500± extra pesos on our Tab which we paid. CFE sent 2 people to examine our home, testing for any leakage to stray neighbours. None found, so while we were relegated to the DAC for one period as opposed to 6 months, they did acknowledge that our consumption never came close to that amount before or after. We sucked it up & had a massive cage constructed of 5/8" steel & dbl locks. There was evidence that our meter had been re-mortered & repainted in place by the thief, nice touch!

  We have another house in SJC that has had the electrical wires stolen from it 3 times, so we didn't replace them this time. Figured we'd give some $$ back when we sold it.  Was paying the 49p/mo to keep it up to date with CFE.  Neighbor found our newest bill and gave it to us--3500p!  Seems some squatter hooked up to the meter and did some welding...had my lawyer straighten it out.

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Checked both the meter and last copy of the bill. Everything looks right

15 hours ago, BeanRoy said:

I don't believe it is possible to pay 25p a month, unless someone did the ol' diablito trick on your meter. My suspicion is you will one day be smacked with a huge bill when the CFE realizes something is not right. If I were you I'd definitely have it checked out.

 

electric bill.jpg

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On 3/2/2021 at 12:25 PM, lcscats said:

Nice idea but CFE said no cages around the meters. Another made up rule.

Just put the cage on.  If it is an old analog meter without the electronic reader no problem, If it is the digital with  the  reader "plug" on the front make sure  that the access to it is easy.  Every meter on my street has protection, and  have it for years.  

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23 hours ago, Northtek said:

Checked both the meter and last copy of the bill. Everything looks right

I'd say little looks right about this, actually.

1 - what are the meter readings / consumption in kWh? 

2 - what is the tarifa code?     Residential is 01 or DAC.     If you're being billed monthly, it may be on a commercial tariff such as 02 or other.    

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I looked through the billing history for the last year and billing has been consistent, the meter is new as the area I am in is relatively new. it has an antitamper tag on it and I am pretty sure its secure, as the neighborhood is very secure. We live in a gated community, inside a gated community.

Plus its just a 3 bedroom condo and we decided to opt out of heavy consuming appliances, such as A/C, Electric dryers, and so on. so our consumption is very low. This was my wife's decision, as she is from here and said that she did not want it. I was resistant at first, as I like my conveniences, but have adopted, as I was told this is the way it is here. 

But in the end, if there is an issue, I am sure it will present itself. Until then, I will just money aside just in case. 

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3 minutes ago, Bisbee Gal said:

@Northtek Yesterday when you first posted your CFE bill, you showed the entire front of it (other than your name/address).  it showed 00 kwh used.  If you re-post that bill, you will get more comments and advice.  

Yes I switched it as it showed a lot if info and I was concerned about the amount of info I was posting to the net. The bill is in Spanish and to be honest it seems off, but the app is in English and I was going off that. The usage history seems consistent for the last year, but I will compare it with the neighbors to see if there is a big difference and let you know. 

Currently I am in the southern tip of Guadalajara, as we are temporarily renting until we can design and build in the Lake Chapala area. I am an engineer and want to build a low consumption smart home, so we are using this time to understand what we need to do to reduce our energy consumption and learn building practices in the area. As a Canadian, I was surprised to learn how much energy I consumed back home as compared to the average consumption here. Just recently learned that Canada produces and consumes twice as much energy, but have 1 fifth the population. We use appliance's that suck up energy in the name of convenience. So I have a lot to learn.

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1 minute ago, Northtek said:

Yes I switched it as it showed a lot if info and I was concerned about the amount of info I was posting to the net. The bill is in Spanish and to be honest it seems off, but the app is in English and I was going off that. The usage history seems consistent for the last year, but I will compare it with the neighbors to see if there is a big difference and let you know. 

Currently I am in the southern tip of Guadalajara, as we are temporarily renting until we can design and build in the Lake Chapala area. I am an engineer and want to build a low consumption smart home, so we are using this time to understand what we need to do to reduce our energy consumption and learn building practices in the area. As a Canadian, I was surprised to learn how much energy I consumed back home as compared to the average consumption here. Just recently learned that Canada produces and consumes twice as much energy, but have 1 fifth the population. We use appliance's that suck up energy in the name of convenience. So I have a lot to learn.

Your bill showed all 00's for usage.  It's quite possible you are using someone else's electricity.  Does that not concern you?

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28 minutes ago, Northtek said:

I looked through the billing history for the last year and billing has been consistent, the meter is new as the area I am in is relatively new. it has an antitamper tag on it and I am pretty sure its secure, as the neighborhood is very secure. We live in a gated community, inside a gated community.

Plus its just a 3 bedroom condo and we decided to opt out of heavy consuming appliances, such as A/C, Electric dryers, and so on. so our consumption is very low. This was my wife's decision, as she is from here and said that she did not want it. I was resistant at first, as I like my conveniences, but have adopted, as I was told this is the way it is here. 

But in the end, if there is an issue, I am sure it will present itself. Until then, I will just money aside just in case. 

I forgot to note that when we made that compromise, she got to setup the house the way she wanted and I got the go ahead to buy a 3D printer, which is awesome. If you get a chance to buy one, I say do it. 

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