CFE Electricity in Mérida: Understanding (and Beating) DAC

Why are electricity bills in Mérida so high?

Bills in Mérida stay moderate until summer air conditioning pushes a household past a hard tariff cutoff. With 35–40°C heat from April through September and a subsidy that ends at a fixed line, two neighboring houses can pay very different rates for similar comfort. The household that manages its consumption stays on subsidized tariff 1C and pays modest bills. The household that runs three old minisplits all summer crosses into DAC and pays roughly four times more per kilowatt-hour until its yearly average comes back down.

The figure to watch is 850 kWh a month, averaged over your last 12 months (about 1,700 kWh per two-month bill), because crossing it raises the price of every kilowatt-hour you use.

How does CFE tariff 1C work?

CFE bills most of Mérida and Progreso bimonthly on tariff 1C, a hot-climate residential tariff with stepped, subsidized pricing: a cheap basic block, a mid-priced intermediate block and a pricier excess block, with deeper subsidies during the hot summer months. As long as your 12-month average stays at or under 850 kWh per month (roughly 1,700 kWh per bimonthly bill), you remain on these subsidized steps. CFE's DAC rules define that average as the moving average of the last 12 months, so a single hot bill doesn't flip you on its own, though a whole summer of them can.

Your bill shows the tariff code and a bar chart of your consumption history. Add up the last six bills and divide by 12 to get the number CFE compares against 850.

What is DAC and why is it a trap?

DAC (Doméstica de Alto Consumo) is CFE's unsubsidized tariff for 'high-consumption' homes. If your 12-month average climbs past 850 kWh a month, CFE reclassifies you and every kilowatt-hour costs roughly four times the subsidized blocks, plus a fixed monthly charge. Recent reference pricing put DAC at about MX$5.3–6.2 per kWh.

Two features make DAC a trap:

• It's a 12-month moving average, so one bad summer counts against the whole year. Saving power in November doesn't cancel July. Once classified DAC, you return to 1C only when the average falls back under 850, which after a heavy summer usually takes most of a year.
• It shows up late. The DAC classification usually appears on the bill after the summer that caused it, and a single bimonthly DAC bill for an AC-heavy house can rival a month's rent.

The 12-month column assumes the six cooler months run about a quarter of the summer AC hours, as in the estimator above. The middle row is the easiest to misjudge. A 1,650 kWh summer bill looks alarming, but the limit applies to monthly use averaged over a year, so that household stays on the subsidized tariff. Exact figures vary with CFE's current rate tables, but DAC stays at roughly four times the subsidized price.

10 concrete ways to stay under the DAC line

1. Buy inverter minisplits. Modern inverter units use a fraction of the power that decade-old units draw, which makes them the highest-ROI upgrade in Yucatán.
2. Cool the room you're in. Set it to 24–26°C, keep the doors closed and leave hallways uncooled.
3. Run ceiling fans with the AC. Moving air lets you set the thermostat 2–3°C higher at equal comfort.
4. Seal and shade. Weatherstrip doors and curtain west-facing glass. If you control the roof, white reflective sealant (impermeabilizante reflectivo) measurably lowers indoor temperatures.
5. Night-and-office strategy. Cooling bedrooms at night and the workspace by day uses a fifth of the power that whole-house cooling does.
6. Read your meter monthly. Two minutes on the 1st of each month tells you your pace. The line is 850 kWh a month averaged over the year, so every hot month above it has to be offset by cooler months well below it.
7. Check the tariff box on every bill. '1C' is fine. 'DAC' means act now, and the consumption history on the bill shows how far your 12-month average has to fall.
8. Time the big loads. Run pool pumps, laundry and water pumps off-peak and outside summer where possible.
9. Solar panels. Mérida's sun makes net-metered solar popular, and panels pay back fastest at DAC-level consumption. Quotes vary, so get three.
10. Before renting or buying: demand the CFE history. A DAC classification stays with the meter when the occupant changes, so confirm the house is on 1C before you take it over. (Our renting guide and buying guide both flag this.)

Reading and paying your CFE bill

Bills arrive bimonthly, on paper at the house and digitally in the CFE Contigo app. The app is worth installing on day one for its consumption history, due dates and outage reports. Pay in the app, at CFE kiosks (CFEmáticos), online banking, or at OXXO with the bill's barcode. Keep a paid CFE receipt around: it doubles as the standard proof-of-address document for everything from bank accounts to school enrollment.

Base non-AC consumption from the fridge, fans, lights and electronics typically lands around MX$500–1,200 per bimonthly bill (the 'utilities ~US$60/month' line in our cost guide). Anything above that comes from climate control.

The 60-second checklist for renters and buyers