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 – October 22, 2018
CFE is now allowing online payments with American Express!
Tried paying online on the CFE website using a US -based Visa and a US-based Mastercard – didn’t work.
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.
If you have a Mexican bank account you can pay directly to CFE with nomcommission
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.
If you are in Mexico, the best way is take cash to the CFE office and use the kiosk. Best exchange rate is usually at a bank ATM. Most charge a modest fee, so we get the maximum amount any time we get cash. Then the percentage is smallest.
When we leave Mexico, we try to put more than enough to hold over until we get back.
We missed a trip, so I am going to try Pagamobil when we run out of credits.
Thanks Mike! Yes, paying at CFE office is easy, but it’s even easier if I can pay it without leaving my house!
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 got my PagaMobil account with a GOOD photo (taken by my Samsung Galaxy Note 4) of my US Passport. Driver License from Oregon was NOT accepted by PagaMobil.
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.
They only take cash at OXXO
That link says I can pay at 7-Eleven and Walmart, which there are plenty of where I spend time in the US. But DO THEY WORK FROM THE US STORES, or only the Mexico stores? Thanks!
I doubt that you can pay your Mexico utility bills from a store in the US.
Thanks, I rather doubted that possibility, too. The thing that works best for me is Pagamobil, which allows for paying any utility bill or phone bill in Mexico, and anything under 500 pesos is only a 12 peso charge. You must have a Mexico cell phone to use it, though. I pay 150 pesos a month for that excellent service. Problem solved.
I use the pagamobil app on my US phone, and it works perfectly.
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!
Gary, I cant figure out the camera. It only says cancelar and no place to take the photo. Any ideas?
Hi Dan – sorry, not following here. Are you having trouble using one of the mobile apps that were mentioned?
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!
Any luck with Western Union? I have tried CFE and it keeps giving error codes. talked to customer service and they said it’s just my phone/computer/internet. I tried 3 different phones and 2 computers, so I don’t believe it.
Do you know how long for CFE to recieve payment after i make my payment through western union?
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/
Can you pay your CFE bill in advance an estimate of what you think it might be for several months?
Good question! But I don’t know the answer.
I have heard of people doing this with their water bill (likely because those are pretty low), but I haven’t heard of people doingit with a CFE bill.
Hopefully someone else will comment on this.
You CAN pay in advance on the cfe bill. Have been doing it for a couple of years(as have others)At the office with the customer rep. or at the autoteller, scan your bill and put in whatever you think is needed. On the quarterly bill there is a running tally to let you know your balance and of course it just keeps paying until gone. Of course this is on the west coast, pero quién sabe?
Thanks for the tip Tim – that’s good to know you can pre-pay.
Hallehlujah! Finally, a way to pay my CFE bill like a normal 21st-Century person! ONLINE! WITH MY US CARD! Thank you all so much for the Western Union option. The service charge is a pittance compared to the time, energy, and expense that I usually have to spend. It’s even a hassle to pay when I am in Mexico.
Signed up (about 5 minutes) and it worked like a charm. Thanks for the tip…..
We have a bank account here in Mexico with HSBC and have the CFE bill direct debit our HSBC account every billing cycle. No more last minute rush to Oxxo. I get a notification from my bank of the payment.
To set up a Mexican bank account with HSBC all you need is: 1) funds to open the account [$3,000MXN is sufficient], 2) your Perm. Res. card, 3) passport, 4) water or electric bill in your name that shows your domicile.
That sounds good, and I would have gone that route except I did not want to wait in line at the only bank in town or try to talk to someone in there. I was able to do everything on PagaMobil through text and Email with Google Translate.
Thanks for the great info, I am just starting out with CFE having bought a home in Ensenada BC. I am rampant to use credit cards where I can (one pays out 5% rewards for some stuff). I hear many US rewards cards are not going to be accepted even in the States as soon as a lawsuit is completed. I use my Chase Bank INK card at Walmart here and get 18.7 pesos per dollar exchange rates when the current rate is 18.75 pesos per dollar. That said, the absolute best way to get cash at an ATM here is with a Schwab Bank Visa Debit card. The exchange rate is dang good, but the best part is Schwab pays transaction fees 100% WORLDWIDE. I have used it in Central America and it just always works and they always repay my transaction fees. I don’t leave home without that card and can restock it online as often as needed. You can also make wire transfers internationally for $30 a pop, where most all banks in the US won’t let me do wire transfers at all. Keep the good info coming. My plan so far is to have my neighbor pay my CFE for me while I am out of the country.
I just paid my TelNor Internet/Phone bill online with my Chase Bank INK Credit Card (thereby pocketing a nifty 5% reward!), directly on the TelNor website. Worked like a charm and gave me 18.970272 pesos per dollar. The bill was 619 Pesos and .05 seconds after I paid I got a text saying they charged my account $32.63. Today’s exchange rate shows 18.96 pesos per dollar on Google, so I made out better than OK! The INK card for Chase is a business credit card that I have kept for the great rewards, although I retired Nov 1, 2015.
I can see why CFE might not want to be involved with Visa’s rewards, or even US credit cards at all, but why not at least give us a free Visa Debit Card option???
Google:
“Stores and other businesses that accept credit cards have to pay a bank fee every time a customer pays with a card. Stores typically raise prices for all customers (including those who pay with cash) to pass these fees onto consumers. Credit cards are far more common among people who live in high-income households.”
For those of us who have up to 5% rewards, the issuing banks pay that portion to keep us using the cards rampantly.
By the way, I am NOT a high-income household, I just always like getting rewards and not being responsible for fraud or theft, so I ALWAYS USE CREDIT CARDS when I can, ALWAYS PAY THEM OFF every month, and stoop to debit card use only when I have to. Cash is LAST on my list, especially when I have to thrash my car and my brain to go into town to pay a stupid bill in person.
DO not try BillMo for making payments in Mexico unless you have a Mexican cell phone. I set up a complete account with my US cell phone number and then tried to figure out how to make a Mexican utility payment. Can’t do it unless you set up a BillMo Pago account which REQUIRES a Mexican cell phone number.
I wish there were no borders in the world, physical or otherwise.
I have been paying my bill using a Mexican debit card and even had it direct debit every month. My problem now is that I got a new card and you cannot change card payment of the card online. Talking to cfe on messenger and they dont even know how to change the card online so now have to go to the office to sort it out
That sounds so very Mexico!
Thank you for this, very helpful after months of going around in circles on the CFE Website trying to make online payments and failing. I have a small issue in that I am no longer receiving paper bills and I can’t see the bills online in order to know how much to pay (just going around in circles again). Has anyone else experienced this and how can I find the bills online. Secondly, the bill is in my landlord’s name, how would I transfer it to mine?
Hi Karen,
Transferring the account from your landlords name into yours is a bit more complex.
I would say keep it in your landlords name, unless you really need it in yours for some reason.
Ours is still in our landlords name – but we have online access to the account – that’s the important thing.
I would check with your landlord to see if it’s OK that you get online access.
If your landlord is cool with it, and you have a copy of a recent bill, it’s pretty easy to get online access.
Create a new online account on the cfe website.
Then, click on Add or remove service number (Agregar o eliminar número de servicio) – then follow along, entering information from a past bill – then you should be able to access the account.
I did this last year, and I remember it being pretty easy.
If your Spanish isn’t great – use the Google Chrome browser – it will automatically translate the web page into English.
Hope this helps – and good luck!
I went to the CFE office in Ensenada today to change my billing information from the previous owner to me. There was a 387 peso bill remaining (which I just received a paper copy of) and I couldn’t tell whether that stopped her from changing the name on the account, so I offered to pay it first on the old name at the CFE-Matic ATM, but she said that wouldn’t do it. Might have to return again in two months. I set up a PagaMobil account from Google Play Store and paid my bill online today instantly with my phone, for 12 pesos. Apparently I could pay any CFE bill that I had the account number for! It went through within an hour or two, although I expect it to take longer to verify through CFE. I used a US Chase Bank credit card (one of the ones that has $0FX fees) to fund the account, and in checking my account I see that I got an exchange rate of 19.22 pesos per dollar, when today’s rate shows on Google at 19.28. Not bad, and worth the 63 cents US to not have to leave the house! My Chase INK card has a 3% FX fee. My regular Chase Amazon card has no FX fee. Go figure. The PagaMobile account was tough to set up because they send you a certain amount of pesos deposit into your account and you have to tell them what it was… but it gets translated into dollars at Chase, and who knows what exchange rate they used? All I know is it didn’t work, so I had to deal with the EXCELLENT customer service at PagaMobil to finalize my account. Now that it’s done I can pay any Mexican bill for very little fee with my US credit card. You’re Welcome!
Note that this next bill I got WAS in my name, so whatever we did worked, it just took a cycle. I was a bit surprised to see a 555 peso “deposit” and a 59 peso “DAP” on the bill, with very little electricity use, but just paid it and figured it would come out in the wash later.
Thanks for all the great info Gary et al.
• Western Union – I used this option for CFE for the first time today and it seems to go through just fine.
$2.99 (USD) fee with USD exchange rate of 19.69 (market rate 20.33)
• Xoom – I have used this for Telmex in the past with no problem. Paying Telmex today:
$2.99 (USD) fee with USD exchange rate of 19.23 (market rate 20.33)
So – quick comparison of these two services:
-Same fee – $2.99
-Western Union offers a better exchange rate.
-Western Union happily uses my credit card with no extra fee or hassle.
We are in Merida, Yucatan and pay CFE online through Intercam Banco. We have paid numerous bills with very few issues. There is a catch (of course)…when you create your account you have to ensure you set it up for a higher amount. If you set it up for say 900 pesos and the next bill is 950 you have to start the process all over again!! So we now set it up for 3000 pesos which we hope we will never have to pay but has us covered…
This is a great article – thank you for sharing. One question. I see the picture you posted of your CFE dashboard but I can’t for the life of me find that view anywhere on their website. I see how to pay but I don’t see a total of what to pay anywhere. Is that info on their site or are they expecting you to just get the mail and know how much you owe?
CFE has made some changes to their website, so it looks different than it did earlier this year.
As soon as you log in, the Account Status page shows the current amount to be paid.
Also, on the account status page, on the lower right side is a list of account statements, where you can access each statement in PDF format, which is the same format as what they send to you via mail.
Hope this helps!
Note that if you use Google Chrome for a browser you can have it automatically translate any Spanish page without touching a thing. It does the CFE page reasonably well and sure takes a lot of the confusion out of things. Wish FireFox had that!
Thank you for this post! I paid my first CFE bill last night using Pagamobil.
I am happy to find this blog. I spent half a day trying to pay with a US Visa Card. I tried to set up Pagamobile account and had to verify the deposit in my US account. Of course my deposit in USD and they are looking for the PS amount they sent so this was impossible. I went back and tried an US AMEX on the CFE site and it worked with no additional fee and the exchange rate was market rate!!
Awesome Mark! Glad to hear that worked for you!