Job Discussion Forums

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

My bill for two months of electricity is about 150 pesos. I have a 2-bedroom apartment.

MO39 · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:40 pm Post subject:

I was happily surprised to receive my first electricity bill (for 2 months) for only 75 pesos. I live in a very small one-bedroom apartment with no power-guzzling appliances apart from my TV and hair dryer.

periodista-masajista · Joined: 13 Jun 2005 Posts: 54 Location: Texas, USA

Last week at the sastreria I tried to pay a 30 peso tab with a 50 peso note and they just stared at me in shock and frustration. Then, I stared back at them in shock and frustration. Change is a daily battle.

I'm sympathetic to the little mom-and-pop shops since I'm sure it is very hard for them to have change lying around. I'm less sympathetic to the gigantic grocery stores who do thousands of US$ worth of business hourly and want me to have exact change just like the little refresquerias do.

The one place where I never have problems with change is the CerveFrio. I think this is because people are frequently scraping together all the loose change in the house to have enough for a six-pack, thus giving the CerveFrio an ample supply of coins and small bills. Some things actually are just the same as they are back home.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Damn...what's sucking up all the power here then? I have a three bedroom, but we don't really use one room. One laptop, one tv, fridge, washer, but I would guess you use more power than I do MELEE. DF rates I guess are higher.

In Acapulco, the owner of our property there was running a small diablito to cut metered power consumption by more than 75%. Common practice in Acapulco where the owner would pay off the guy checking the meter every two months.

aisha · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 4:21 am Post subject:

This is off-topic, but how much does cable cost there?

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

http://www.cablevision.com.mx/paquetes.asp

all there

hlamb · Joined: 09 Dec 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Canada

Wow! My first electricity bill was 900 pesos! Shocked

Granted that was split between two of us, but it seemed a bit high! It was suggested we stop using the air conditioners at night. Luckily it's now cooled off so that isn't a problem. I think the next bill will be much lower. There's two of us here in a two bedroom and I'd guess most of the excess power, other than air con, is for the two computers.

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

That does sound pretty steep since you are probably elegible for the seasonal discount from CFE, no? It ended here on November 1st but the humidity levels have dropped to a point where we don't need air at night now. Were you using the air conditioners during the day too? We have a large house but our electricity was still under $800.00NM for September (our most humid month on the Pacfic coast) Of course that is with the CFE discount but we were running air 24/7 in whatever room we happened to be in.

Sometimes it bears a little investigation to find out if someone else is *borrowing* your electricity, a very common thing. Friends of ours discovered that all the hall and outside lights of their entire 4 floor apartment block were connected to their electric meter. Another fellow doing a renovation on an old house got a 6000.00 NM bill when they weren't living in the house... Turns out the son of the ex-owner living next door had been hooked into his father's electricity! CFE said tough luck, pay up, and held them responsible. Try unplugging everything and then take a look at your meter during a time when others in the building are at home. During our hottest months CFE does those exact kind of checks here themselves trying to find people stealing electricity. If they cut the power to your house and can still hear your air conditioner going, you are in big trouble or better have a sizeable pile of cash hanging around under the mattress!

hlamb · Joined: 09 Dec 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Canada

Yes, it was really high. The next one should be a lot lower, since we haven't been using the air at all in this billing period. If it's not lower, we'll know something's up!

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

hlamb · Joined: 09 Dec 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Canada

I finally seem to be getting used to the heat, but of course, it's a lot cooler now than when I first arrived.

Dragonlady · Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:40 am Post subject:

deleted...

info out of date

Cdaniels · Last edited by Cdaniels on Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:46 pm; edited 1 time in total

Definitely not the computer. Computer shops used to, (and maybe still) spread this myth that older computers were much less energy efficient in order to sell newer models. There's partial truth in this, but only for organizations that get 100+ computers running 24/7 would notice a significant difference in energy bill savings. Windows and Macs have built-in energy saving features (mostly for laptop batteries)
CRT-style monitors are by far the most energy consuming part of a PC setup. You can turn these off when not in use to save a little.
Prodigy is a computer service, right? or cable/internet service Question

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Cdaniels · Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject: Energy saver friendly message!

Your're welcome!
Unfortunately this is from experience, when my electric company simply miscalculated my bill! Evil or Very Mad

My, poor innocent computer was the first suspect, but I knew it wouldn't let me down like that! Plus all those "energy saver" stickers; the noises the little fan makes, and the kind of power old mainframes used to draw, back in the day- I don't blame your wife for thinking its the computer's fault. (and I don't think I want to be on Mrs. Courchesne's bad side. Shocked

)