One would assume it would be easy, in 2018, to simply pay a utility bill online. One would be incorrect. At least in Mexico. CFE (Federal Electricity Commission) is our electric company here in Mexico. Our electric bills are delivered every 2 months here, so over the last 10 months, we’ve paid our bill 5 times. It seems like every time we pay it, it’s with a different method.
Pay Offline – at OXXO
When we first arrived here in Mexico, we simply gave cash to our landlady, and she paid the electric bill. Likely by going to the local convenience store – OXXO. OXXO’s are a chain of convenience stores all across Mexico. It seems like you can do almost anything at OXXO- buy beer, pay your utility bills, re-charge your debit card, add minutes to your cell phone, etc.
Pay directly online at CFE
Shortly after we moved, I was able to create an account at the CFE site, and I was able to access my bill. It’s actually a decent enough website, and provides historical data, access to your bills, etc. In addition, I could pay my bill online with a credit card. w00t!
’cause I’m all about earning those credit card points!
Success!
It was actually super easy to pay online at the CFE website, and I was able to use one of my US credit cards.
Rejected!
Fast forward two months, and I again try to pay my bill online at the CFE site, but my credit card is rejected.
The message I got was: 02M200005: REJECTED TRANSACTION, TRY WITH ANOTHER CARD
Ouch. I tried with multiple credit cards, MasterCard and Visa – all the same. The word ’round the campfire was that CFE had stopped accepting US-based credit cards. doh! Time for a new plan.
Pay with Xoom
A friend told me I could pay my CFE bill with Xoom. Xoom is actually owned by PayPal, and their primary purpose seems to be making it easy to transfer money to people in other countries, either into a bank account or at a cash pickup location.
In addition, they allow for online bill pay – such as paying your phone bill, gas bill, cable bill, and electric bill.
So for the last few months, I’ve been successfully using Xoom to pay my CFE bill.
Their service charge is $2.99 USD. For me, it’s worth it to pay my bill online with a credit card. It’s convenient, plus I’m all about earning credit card points.
A week ago, I tried to again pay my CFE bill using Xoom, but it seems that they no longer accepted CFE payments.
I reached out to Xoom, and here’s what they had to say:
As you may have learned, we are experiencing a service interruption with transfers going to CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad). We are working with our partner to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
We apologize for the inconvenience and will inform you as soon as the service is available again.
Time to change tactics again.
Switch App
Someone on one of our local facebook groups said he had been using the Switch app to pay his CFE bill since last year, but as of this month they also no longer allow bill pay to CFE.
I’m guessing that CFE changed something on their end (from a technical standpoint), and that’s affecting the integrations with Switch and Xoom.
Pagamobil
Another friend (Kim at Run Away Realty here in Puerto Morelos) suggested using the pagamobil app. I downloaded the app and signed up.
Add a payment method
From the home page, click on the Formas de Page icon at the bottom of the app.
Click on the + Agregar metodo de Pago to add either a credit card or enter your PayPal account info. I used a credit card.
Account Validation
From the home page, click on the Mi Cuenta icon. Make sure your personal information is correct (this gets entered during account sign up)
Click on the Verificar Cuenta icon.
From here, you’ll want to :
- Verificar Correo (verify your email address)
- Verificar Telefono (verify your mobile phone number)
- Verificar Identification (verify your ID). I uploaded a copy of my Mexican driver’s license.
Now that all your information is entered, you can pay a bill.
Pay a Bill
Once you’re logged in, from the home page, click on Luz y Gas (Lights & Gas)
click on the Pagar for CFE button
Click on escanea con camera, and take a picture of the barcode on the bottom your CFE bill (which you can get from CFE website). I tried entering the 12 digit service number manually, but that didn’t work.
Select your form of payment, and submit.
Waiting…
My bill pay seemed to be successful, but it went to an In Process status. I had to wait a couple of days for pagamobil to verify my information and ID.
After 2 days, my bill pay showed as Pago Realizado (payment made).
I logged into the CFE website, but my bill didn’t show as paid.
I waited one more day, and finally the CFE website showed my bill as Pagado (paid)
Pagamobil did charge $55 pesos as a service fee (Comision por servicio)
So, I was finally able to once again pay my CFE bill online. This time it was using the pagamobil app, on my US-based iPhone, using a US-based credit card.
Next Time
In 2 months, when my next electric bill arrives – we’ll see what happens.
I’ll try again to pay directly on the CFE website, but I don’t have high hopes that they’ll accept my US-based credit card.
Hopefully the pagamobil app will still work!
Update – June 19, 2018
We got our CFE bill this week, and here’s a quick recap of paying our bill
- Tried paying online on the CFE website using a US credit card – didn’t work
- Tried paying using the CFE Contigo mobile app using a US credit card – didn’t work
- Successfully paid using the pagamobil mobile app using a US credit card – it worked perfect!
Update – I failed to give a proper shout out to Kim at Run Away Realty (http://runawayrealty.com), who was the friend that suggested to use the pagamobil app. Sorry for the oversight Kim – the next Paloma is on me 🙂
Do you know of any sits one can pay their CFE bill without large commissions?
Paying directly at http://www.cfe.gob.mx/ would be your best bet.
The website still won’t take a US credit card nor my CIbanco Mexican debit card. Seems like they only want Bancomer
Does not work with US cards.
Gerry – sorry, can you be more specific? *What* doesn’t work with US cards?
I know that the CFE website and CFE app don’t work with US cards – but the Pagamobil app does.
This information was VERY helpful thank you very much.
I had precisely the same experience with the denied American cards from cfe.mx, then Xoom being disabled. I’ve been scouring the internet for a solution for hours now. After calling all over, (including a management company that wanted to charge me $25 a month for paying the one bill) this post about Pagamobil saved me from going down to a house with no electricity. Thank you! This was great! Please post more if Pagamobil ever dies on us!
Glad it was helpful! We’ll definitely post an update if there are any changes.
I paid my bill at the cfe office here in mazatlan.I used a Canadian mastercard and the process was very confusing as no where did it acknowledge that it had processed the payment.
Unfortunately I did the process 4 times so I now have a three month credit on the bill.
The exchange rate was also poor .It was about 3% less than I got at other stores on the same day.I am assuming that is what they charge.
You have to assume that it works if you use this or you will end up over paying
Thanks for sharing the info Frank!
HI
Just an update on my overpayment with mastercard at the cfe account.
I called mastercard and explained my storey of over payment.
They were quite helpful and had them all reversed within a day.
Not the usual experience I was expecting.
It all turned out fine
A little 101 here, if I may.
You can indeed pay at CFE office if (IF) there is one nearby. Not my case.
You can either pay to the teller or at the CFE pay-station outside.
You don’t have to pay by US credit card and incur poor exchange rate AND 1-2% surcharge by US credit card for the foreign transaction, because both teller and pay station will gladly take pesos.
Alex – good points. But, I think the issue many of us are trying to solve is that we *want* to pay it online. Either for convenience, or because many are out of the country for a period of time, and still need to pay the bill. For example, many snowbirds are not in Mexico during the summer, but still need to pay their electric bill.
Exchange rates and foreign transaction fees are easily resolved by having a good credit card. Most good credit cards don’t charge a foreign transaction fee.
And many people will gladly pay a small fee to be able to pay online.
Do you need a Mexican ID for the app’s ID verification process? What other forms of ID can be used?
For the pagamobil ID verification, they say it can be one of:
a) voting card (IFE)
b) Driver ‘s license
c) valid passport
It doesn’t explicitly state that it has to be a Mexican ID. My hunch would be that any passport would be OK.
If you should find out for sure – let us know!
I’m so happy I found this post! I had been using SimplePay until they went out of business, and after CFE stopped accepting US credit cards, and Xoom and Switch stopped working, I’d been wondering if I’d have any other options for paying this bill online.
Glad it helped Margie!
so is paying at OXXO still an option? I have tried multiple online sources as well with no success. the only way I can pay now is at the CFE kiosk, but OXXO would definitely be more convenient. thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Brooke –
Yes – it looks like you can still pay at Oxxo (as well as 7-Eleven, Chedraui, and a bunch of other places).
Check out the “Where to Pay” page on the CFE website:
https://app.cfe.mx/Aplicaciones/CCFE/DondePagar/Donde-pagar.aspx
May I use my Citibanomex debit card to pay CFE at the local Oxxo, or do i need to bring cash?
Randolph – I’m not sure. I’ve never paid at Oxxo, as I prefer to do it online. Maybe someone else here has an answer for you.
If you do find out – please report back! Thanks!
I tried to pay several times with a Credit Card at OXXO in Playa del Carmen. They say they only take cash.
Just tried the same thing with Pagamobil, they wanted 550 pesos commission. It was a high bill, but that is a little excessive. I will pay at OXXO this time and try again for the next bill.
I received my bill last week and there is no deadline date printed on the bill. On my prior there was a deadline date for payment printed. It appears that CFE has changed the format of their bills?
Thanks-
They did change the format, but I still see a due date.
I see a “limite de pago” at the top right hand side of my bill which shows the due date.
And if I login to cfe.mx and look at their site, there’s a “Fecha límite de pago” which shows the due date.
My bill for mid May has a límite de pago. This is the pay by date and yes they changed the format
NEW IPHONE APP called “CFE Contigo”, go out to your apps and search, add the APP and you will be able to scan in your bill. I haven’t actually paid a bill yet so I can’t say if they will accept an American VISA, but they definitely have the button there to make a payment. try it.
Cool! Hopefully they take a US credit card (although I’m overly optimistic). It’s worth a try though! Thanks for sharing!
Were you able to use your USA credit card with the CFE Contigo app?
I haven’t tried yet, as my new bill hasn’t arrived. I’ll try soon – likely in the next week or so
hi…did that work? am exploring options to pay online,
thanks
I was just at CFE today trying to use their app and it doesn’t work. I was with the employee while paying my bill at the office and it kept saying there was a problem with my bank. Which there isn’t. I tried different cards and no luck sadly
Sandi – thanks for the comment!
Were you using a US based credit card(s)? a Mexican credit card? other?
Hi thanks so much for info!
I have gone through exact same problems! So frustrating!
Now I paid and I forgot to be verified first so hopefully they will accept my Ca license.. I did try the new app for CFE first and as usual it wouldn’t take my American card 🙁
Praying all goes thru.. they did chg 100 pesos but it’s worth it to not have to take cash out and exchange for pesos and pay at kiosk. Will update if my payment actually goes thru.. fingers crossed! Thanks again for the info and help much appreciated!
Good data point about the cfe app – bummer that it didn’t work.
I suspect that pagamobil will contact you soon to go through verification.
Please do let us know how things turn out!
I have received my CFE bill via email, tried repeatedly to pay on the CFE website. I seem to find myself in an endless loop, unable to make a payment. I tried the CFE Contigo app with 4 different credit cards, each one rejected. Short of driving to Juarez, I’m not sure how to get this bill paid. Any other ideas????
Debra – did you try using the pagamobil app?
We got our CFE bill this week, and here’s a quick recap of paying our bill
* Tried paying online on the CFE website using a US credit card – didn’t work
* Tried paying using the CFE Contigo mobile app using a US credit card – didn’t work
* Successfully paid using the pagamobil mobile app using a US credit card – it worked perfect!
Thanks so much for this info. I too went thru the same frustrations the past few years and yeah Pagamobil has now worked perfectly three billing cycles. Very easy, although the site is in Spanish, it is very easy to translate and understand the process.
Super – glad that’s worked for you as well!
I have been using the saldo.mx phone app for the last few months to pay from the US and it has been working. Up till now their fees have not been excessive. You have to pay them a certain sum of money so they can make the payment for you to CFE from that sum of money.
Interesting – a new option!
Raul – do you know what the fee that saldo charges to pay a bill (such as a CFE bill)?
FYI, for others who may see this – I downloaded the app, and tried to register. It wouldn’t properly register me, simply telling me that my information was wrong.
I then VPN-ed into the US, and the registration works. So at least for me, it seems that you have to be in the US (or VPN-ed into the US) in order to register.
You can now pay CFE plus other major Mexican billers on the Western Union app and at Westernunion.com. I’ve already used it once to pay from the U.S. It’s convenient in the sense that you only need to enter your CFE account number and the app/website will return the exact amount due on the current invoice.
You can pay with your credit card, debit card or even a link to your U.S. bank account. The fee is $2.99.
https://www.westernunion.com/us/en/cross-billpay-us-mx.html
Nelson – that’s great! Thanks for sharing that information – that seems like a solid option!
Related – here’s a great blog post that someone else wrote that goes into detail about the CFE bill itself. Good stuff!
http://www.solmexiconews.com/understanding-your-mexican-cfe-hydro-bill/