Services such as lights, water and gas are costing Juarez residents half of their minimum wage salary according to an article in Diario de Juarez. The overall utility cost rose to 301.88 pesos per month while the monthly minimum wage in the city is only 632 pesos or 22.60 per day. A family earning this wage would have only another 331 pesos left to spend on food, transportation, housing and clothing.
The data was obtained by figuring the actual cost for services and the amounts used by an average family registered with the electricity, water and gas agencies. The Federal Electricity Commission (Comision Federal Electricidad, CFE) which supplies electricity stated that a family uses approximately 500 kilowatt hours bi-monthly and the charge is 242 pesos, making a family's monthly bill 121 pesos for electricity. The Municipal Water and Sanitation Agency (Junta Municipal de Agua y Saneamiento) estimated a family uses 50 cubic meters of water at 1.58 pesos per meter, amounting to 79 pesos per month. And finally, according to the director of the Gas Natural S.A. company, a family living in a small house uses on average 90 to 100 cubic meters of natural gas per month, costing between 91.69 and 101.88 pesos per month.
Source: Diario de Juarez