The blackout that Spain and Portugal have suffered days ago is a common and unwanted guest in Mexico and when it arrives, although it does not tough the entire nation, those affected are counted by millions. The North American country, with its more and less, is growing, the same as its industry than welfare in homes, and electricity consumption realizes it. The heat waves in the north, pure desert, put down the supply of electricity due to the increase in the use of the air conditioners and fans and the days of embarrassment are dark. The south of the country also faces extreme heats, in those poorest areas, the blackouts are noticed, but no state escapes them. And sometimes they lengthen for endless days. Conscious, the Government has a plan from here to 2030 that foresees an investment of 22,000 million dollars to inject 22,674 megawatts to the national electrical system and 6,400 more of private generation.
The National Electricity Commission (CFE) has once again a public company, following the plans of a certain energy nationalization of the previous government, which are now being completed. The agency drags huge losses, only last year 271,000 million pesos were reported, and some of them come from fraud or the traditional resistance of citizens to pay the light in areas of great poverty. This way is lost 5.3% of the collection and a similar amount is due to technical causes in the supply. In Mexico, where there are still fuses everywhere, the devils are common, so they call the homemade manipulation of cables to trucar domestic consumption. There are also conflicting areas where they do not let the CFE personnel go to read the spending of light. And in any street you can see how street stalls steal the electricity of the public wiring without anyone opposing resistance. All this does not represent the bulk of the collection, which always comes from the industry, logically, but supposes millionaire losses.
The CFE has five years with campaigns to bring to modernity the obsolete facilities, replacing them with digital remote control meters, among other things. The renewal of these teams will involve millionaire contracts (in Mexico everything is counted by millions, as well as their population, 126 million people). That would allow raising 97% of the energy supplied that have been charged, on average. But the country knows that it needs to raise the electricity generation and in its plans there are already wind, photovoltaic and combined cycle projects. The country grows.
Tricks and fraud apart, the electrical system works with some normality, although more than half a million households still have no laying, and only the afternoon blackouts confirm that the time has come to raise the sights. The water is much worse. Prolonged droughts are noticed everywhere and also the capital presents huge problems. The cuts in the supply force to provide water from other sources and the city always circulates trucks that visit the households affected to download thousands of liters in the tinacos where what is necessary for domestic consumption is stored. In certain peripheral and poor neighborhoods, water pipes come and go to supply a population that always wrecks in shortage. It also happens, although to a lesser extent, in well -off areas. Water is undoubtedly one of the great promises of every political party in the campaign. Because many times you don’t have and you can never drink from the tap. To the street transfer of the pipes is added that of the carafones distribution carts for consumption at the table. A common landscape in each town and city.
The huge blackout in Spain was seen with surprise in Mexico, but not with alarm. Throughout Latin America they are accustomed to these events, which have endowed the population of infinite patience and that knows how to handle each other’s practices that are already common, both to endow light and water. A panoramic shot shows the landscape of millions of plastic tinacos on the roofs throughout the country and a chaotic electrical wiring against which the authorities fight.
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