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Businesses report electric bills up as much as 400%

Mérida, Yucatán — Business owners have demanded that the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) urgently review the new tariff for commercial customers after receiving bills that have shot up by as much as 400 percent.

If these new charges hold, all consumers should be hit in the pocketbook, notes Milenio Novedades.

The Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Conacanaco), the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism of Mérida (Canacome) and the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) said that if these charges are not corrected, there will be a general increase in prices.

The general secretary of Concanaco, José Manuel López Campos, pointed out that several businesses from Yucatan and the rest of the country received their first bills calculated under a new formula.

In Yucatán, the CFE is required to review its methodology to avoid ruinous price increases in services and products, followed by a domino effect that hurts consumers. New calculations behind commercial power bills were predicted to raise bills between 9 and 15 percent under medium- and high-voltage rates.

“We are calling the CFE to review this new methodology for applying the rate for the business sector,” said the Canacome leader, Juan José Abraham Dáguer. High electric bills can condemn a small-scale entrepreneur to failure.

He said that in the coming days, they will hold meetings with the affected companies to mediate with the CFE.

For his part, the president of the CCE, Carlos Campos Achach, said that if such an increase in electricity consumption were registered, it would be unfortunate for all sectors of the Yucatecan and national economy.

On the other side of the country, the CFE pulled back a similar increase after business owners negotiated with the government. Its 400 percent rate hike was reduced to 4.7 percent in Baja California.

Sources: Sipse, Frontera

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