Water bill

Water is not cheap here if you have a full treatment system that brings it up to the standards of both purity and pressure of what is delivered to your house NOB.  Water treatment alone at our house costs $30 per month and our SIMAPA bill has risen to over $800.  That doesn't include the electricity to pump it which I am now providing with a solar system.  I would estimate that the capital cost portion of the solar system required for this function alone would equal at least $3,000 U.S.

I will say that the reliability and cleanliness of the water has improved markedly over the last 6 years.  When we first moved here, the water was off pretty much every day.  Now it is on almost all the time.

Are you bouncing back and forth between Pesos and Dollars as your numbers don't seem to make much sense in their current form?

Cost of water, like everything else, very much depends on where and how you live and what you consider "necessary standards." I rent a house in Chapala with ajibe and tanaka. Water pressure is always fine. My electric bill runs about 200 pesos every two months so the pump is not a problem. I buy bottled water for drinking and making ice, use water from the faucets for everything else. I pay 20 pesos for a five-gallon garrafon of water that lasts at least a week. City water is included in rent.

CheenaGringo wrote:Are you bouncing back and forth between Pesos and Dollars as your numbers don't seem to make much sense in their current form?

It's all dollars.  The $3,000 figure is the capital cost of the part of the solar system needed to pressurize city water.  I identified it as such.  There's no operating cost for the solar system unless you want to count the labor cost for washing the panels.  I do it and my wife pays me 5 pesos per hour.

we pay $1700 PESOS annually fer our city water. hasn't really gone up that much in almost 8 years.

What you folks need to find out is how much you are being charged per cubic meter. Comparing bills when you don't say how much water you used is pretty meaningless. For what it is worth, Conagua charges 0.36233 pesos/each cubic meter extracted from a well. Muncipalities with wells probably get a better rate but that is what Fraccs with wells have to pay. Municipalities also add on about 4% for infrastructure and who knows what else. The biggest expense is the payment to CFE for running the pump.

Osoprehistorico wrote:What you folks need to find out is how much you are being charged per cubic meter.  Comparing bills when you don't say how much water you used is pretty meaningless.  For what it is worth, Conagua charges 0.36233 pesos/each cubic meter extracted from a well.  Muncipalities with wells probably get a better rate but that is what Fraccs with wells have to pay.  Municipalities also add on about 4% for infrastructure and who knows what else.  The biggest expense is the payment to CFE for running the pump.

why should i care about all that nonsense? what we pay for us 2 and guests is damn cheap. i ain't gonna break down into little cubicles for what i pay fer an onion either.

CheenaGringo wrote:Where are you and how long have you been there?  Maybe you should have moved to San Miguel de Allende where they actually do quote prices in USD?

Yeah, I was wondering what the rate of exchange was at the Simapa office.
....and Oso, since we are talking dollars, shouldn't you be asking about cu. ft.?

I would love to respond to some of the posts on this thread, but to me, it is all water under the bridge.
It is nice to know that folks who do not live here take such an interest, and are sooo knowledgeable about our waterworks.
Warms the cockles of me heart.    

zenwoodle wrote:I would love to respond to some of the posts on this thread, but to me, it is all water under the bridge.
It is nice to know that folks who do not live here take such an interest, and are sooo knowledgeable about our waterworks.
Warms the cockles of me heart.    

but does it warm your water? here in lourdes the well is thermal.

Kiri wrote:I can't manage to get on the Simapa site to get the Posted Simapa Rates tier system. Anyone else have better luck?

Simapa.gob.mx


Thanks in advance...

I finally got the rates:

m^3 m^3 $
16 30 8.77
31 45 8.93
46 60 9.44
61 75 9.52
76 90 9.74
91 9.82

Osoprehistorico wrote:What you folks need to find out is how much you are being charged per cubic meter.  Comparing bills when you don't say how much water you used is pretty meaningless.  For what it is worth, Conagua charges 0.36233 pesos/each cubic meter extracted from a well.  Muncipalities with wells probably get a better rate but that is what Fraccs with wells have to pay.  Municipalities also add on about 4% for infrastructure and who knows what else.  The biggest expense is the payment to CFE for running the pump.

And the water company has a hard time paying the electric  bill for the pumps.  They do need everybody to pay up to keep the pumps running.

Dead Fact

The CFE winds up with our money, no matter where we pay it....solar or no solar.

Just paid my water bill in Ajijic. There was no wait. It increased 7.5% over last year. There was no mention of installing a water meter as some others have reported.

Nearly twice the rate of the official 4 percent inflation rate.

Canuck Bob Did you read the rules downstairs? It says clearly that any home with more than 250m2 of garden will need to install a meter. I paid the bill for this year and I told them I would get the meter next year..But it clearly states what the rules are so get ready for next year ..
When you read the rules I see plenty of holes and room for interpretation so we will see but this year no one pushed fr the meter..
My increase was less than 4% who knows hw they figure the increases-

I didn't see any signs anywhere other than the one at the top of the stairs telling you which office to pay the water bill.

Mine went up   3.5% or 18 pesos. It sounds like the increases are all over the place. If you read the announcements at the bottom of the stairs it shows you where the rates are going. the bottom is 1900 something  for a 2 bedroom 1 bath with some land to 3400 something for a house of 2 bedroom 2 bath up to 5 bedroom I forget how may bathrooms and 100 m of land (I assume up to 249m)
Then anyone over 250m must have a meter.

The second rate does not make any sense unless they adjust it if you have for exemple 3bed 2 bath..it is not clear what peope will be billed..

They told me the meter was effective this year but they did not flinch when I paid for my bill without requesting a meter. I asked about the rule about the meter and they told me I would have to get one. I said next year , They said ok. I so told them I had two lots and two water lines so I wanted 2 meters, they told me they had no records of the second address or line and they told me they would come to check it on Friday at 11am and no one showed up. They came to our property to measure the garden several times already so I am not sure what they are doing..

C Bob whn I went they were two pannels downstairs at the foot of the stairs with all the tariffs and rules.
I think the top rate was 6 600 pesos for large commercial properties I think I did not read that part carefully.
By the way the 250m is "of garden" so if you have paving it may not apply..I guess, as usual it is all vague and incomplete so they can do whatever they want.. For some reason I think a pool puts one in that category but again , I am not sure.

Mainecoons the increases are all over the place so your $% does not mean anything, my rate went up less than that.

I have a pool and am probably close to the top residential rate ($4300 pesos). I don't have even close to 250 sq. mt. of garden. My yard is primarily cement and tiles. I would probably save money by having a meter installed as they seem to think that the pool takes an exorbitant amount of water when if fact it doesn't if you keep it covered when not in use.

Do they use a sliding scale to charge with more use elevating the cost per square meter?

I do not think the pool takes as much money as they think it does, then it all depends how many people live in the house as well. It is tough to estimate how much water we use..
I told them to install the meter rightaway so I can see what I use and I will know what kind of deposit I need to leave them next year before I leave.
If they do not want to give me a meter for the garden I guess I will get free water as the garden section is not connected to the house line...

Did they tell you the top residential rate is 4300? What does that amount cover?

I assumed it was close to the top rate for residential since you said the top rate for commercial was 6,600 pesos.

Ok that was an estimate..with the water company you just never know..

If you do not have a garden per say you may be better off with a meter..who knows ?.. I like the meter because it bills for what I use rather than some idea of what we use. If I use too much I will cut back where I can.

I know they have an estimation of what people use per day per person. WHen I built the house in Chiapas the engineer gave me the figures..which like a dummy I lost but they have a number. In my case in Chiapas I used a little more as one bedroom is very far from the water heater and the water has to run a while before we get hot water. The de pso would not work and there is no way to put one close to the bathroom so I use more water because of that but otherwise they were pretty clos..I am going to go by to find out where their guy is and ask them for their figures..we will see if they know in the Ajijic office.

I visited my Prop Mgmt Co yesterday and credited $$ to my acct for annual prop tax and water charges.  I brought 25% more $$ than last years charges after reading the webboards, because I did not know what my 2015 bills would be.  The staff were able to bring up 2015 amounts due.  And, in my case, the prop tax due is same as last year.  And, water bill was ~200p more (& INCLUDES a 1500p charge for a water meter).. The Mgmt Co. owner got on the phone with SIMAPA and they supposedly said that all "large" properties MUST now have their water metered.  What the definition of large is ...... I don't know. My 2015 bill was 29,578 pesos

I have no idea how much water I use.  I am frugal, as is my nature (metered or non-metered ((because there is always electric w/sump pump & pressure pump costs too)).  For 9+ years I have simply accepted that this is what it will cost me for this service.  It looks like I have no choice in the matter and that it WILL BE metered today or tomorrow, whether I want it or not.  Mgmt Co did say that one of their clients (with prop similar to mine) went metered last year and their 2014 charges were 20% less than the year before.  So, who knows??  Is their prop really similar to mine? who knows??  Prop Mgr. also said (since I elected to pay the full 2015 bill) that should the metered costs be less than the amount paid, credit would carry over to 2016.  Who knows? Prop Mgr. also said the tiers say that the more you used - the lower the rate per liter/gal.  Which makes no sense whatsoever.

I had considered installing a meter on the inside to get a handle on exactly how much water I was using, so as to be informed before I opted for a meter.  Looks like that is no longer an option for me.

I was given a website to go to, but have been unable to get a connect.  The address is www.periodocooficial.jalisco.gob.mx, then go to Ley de Ingresos, then go to (she wasn't sure which) CNA/SIAPA/SIMAPA ...to find out the pricing tiers.  Maybe someone else has faster connection speeds and can get to the website.

She also said that Water is now or will be shortly a FEDERAL service, rather than a local one, as in the past.  Who knows?