Job Discussion Forums

[MotherF]

I know not too many of you are parents, but if I ask in my parents forum they won't understand the Mexico aspects of this.

So early this year we moved. In our old location in the mountains our electric bill was always around 200 for two months. A little higher in December due to Christmas lights and vacation ( being home more) and I guess it getting darker slightly earlier. And in March to May due to the running of fans. We also had a really lovely house keeper/ nanny who had been with us for three years.

Now our electric bill is 500 to 700 for two months! Its hot here we run three fans all night every night and most of the day too. We have room air con, but we only use that occasionally for a couple of hours in the evening if its over 40°. I'm trying to reign in our electric use, knowing it will never be as low as at the other house, but aiming for the low end of the 500 to 700 range. That seems to varied.

So we have a new house keeper / nanny. She's working out OK, but the last one was great. ( I've had about six total all the time I've been in Mexico. She has a basic cell phone and months ago I noticed she had it charging at our house. No big deal, we need to be able to call her and her us. Then there was an issue with her youngest child who is 14 ( four yearsolder than my oldest two) and safety with a creepy neighbor so I told her it was fine for her daughter to come to our house when she gets out of school rather than being home alone. Her daughter has a smart phone. I started to notice that charging when I got home to. Now the girls father ( in the us) sent her a tablet, and she's been bringing it and using our internet to do homework which is not problem as that's a flat rate. But on Friday I got home and on the counter both cell phones and the tablet were all charging.
They've never asked me if that was okay.

I feel like that's too much. I'm paying her well, more than the local going rate. Do I also have to provide her with daily charging facilities? I'm I being to anal about electricity use? I was spoiled by low bills in the highlands. Maybe these devices don't make a big difference. I scold my own kids when they leave a fan running in an empty room.

[Xie Lin]

An iPad uses around 12 KWH per year if fully drained and charged every other day. This costs about $1.50 US (annually) where I live. A typical smart phone uses 2 KWH per year at an annual cost of around 25 cents. I don't know how much a kilowatt hour costs where you live, but you can easily find that out, and then determine whether the cost of charging the phones and tablet is more than you want to tolerate, or--perhaps more likely--that the cost is negligible. Just multiply the amount you pay for one KWH by 16 to get the approximate cost of charging all three items for a year. If, for example, you are paying an excedente rate of 2.5 pesos per kilowatt hour (could be more, could be less in your zone), then your yearly total cost will be around 40 pesos to charge one tablet and two phones, assuming they are charged only or usually at your house.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45ljil/ipad-1-50-per-year/

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[Guy Courchesne]

Ditto on the above...it's a tiny amount of power used. But, you are right I think in that they should have asked permission.

Even a larger laptop used a lot during the day won't top 500 pesos for a year of usage.

[Phil_K]

I think I'd go further than say, "They should've asked"! I know some people are slaves to their gadgets these days, but the gall of these people is beyond belief. If it were me, I'd question the wisdom of people with such shoddy manners continuing to have the run of my home!