Alicia Rubio says that in the last two months, her electricity bill reached 2,800 pesos, when she had previously paid 500. She described the increase as unusual, since two people now live in her house and before there were four.

Carlos Salazar has the same problem. He says, “No new devices have been added, and we are the same number of people, but the last two bills came with increases of 220% compared to the previous year. Another problem is that the application does not let me generate the clarification report because, according to that, it is below average. Whose average? And they don’t even answer the CFE’s complaints phone.”

Users who are dissatisfied with their bill, or who believe that it does not reflect what they have used can file a claim with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), which reviews the situation.

According to figures received through transparency procedures, when isolation due to the coronavirus began, CFE started receiving 117 complaints per day. In 2019, it was 80 a day, on average.

According to CFE, if the disagreement is appropriate, the user’s bill is corrected, and the customer pays what is fair.

On April 12, President López Obrador said that electricity rates have not increased above inflation, and that, because of the health contingency and in support of the families’ economy, they agreed not to increase costs to users.

José Martín Mendoza Hernández, CEO of CFE Supplied Basic Services, has said that all domestic customers have only experienced a monthly increase of 0.2% to reach 3.6%per year.

So, what could be causing the increases?

4 out of every 10 CFE meters need to be replaced

The CFE said that for several years, it has replaced obsolete or damaged electromechanical meters with electronic devices that have greater accuracy, easier reading, and the possibility of remote operation.

However, as of March 21 of this year, only 1.8 million meters had been changed in Jalisco, out of a total of 3.2 million. This means that about 4 out of every 10 meters need to be replaced.

Electricity is often stolen

The federal government not only faces gasoline theft at Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) with losses of 65 billion pesos each year, the CFE faces theft of approximately the same amount.

The difference is that, contrary to gasoline theft, consumers themselves have to pay for stolen electricity, so the government does not have the same sense of urgency about fixing it.