Paying water and electric bills

I love the process of paying bills here in Costa Rica. I guess when you only receive one bill a month it’s not so bad. Well, actually we receive two water and electric bills since we own two houses on separate meters but they arrive on the same day so I sometimes consider it only one bill.

Like almost everything else in Costa Rica, the water and electric company is run by the government. We receive our bills in what I assume is our mailbox (a little black metal “box” with a rusty door at the bottom) but since we have never seen a mailperson in our area we aren’t quite sure mail delivery is an option in our neighborhood. Anyway, the bill generally covers 28 days of service and for both houses our highest total in charges has been this past month for a cost of $54!

So, onto paying the bill. I know it’s possible to pay online but since we don’t have internet service this seems like a ridiculous process for us. We prefer the “in person” payment method. Payment made simple means when we go to one of our larger grocery stores like AutoMercado or Pali we just hand the bill to the cashier and it’s handled immediately. Mas X Menos stores have a separate window for payments which can be easier if timed right but sometimes the lines outweigh the benefit.

For Life in the Slow Lane, I am shocked at the ease of payment. Way to go Costa Rica!