What is the real deal with bringing in electricity?

[jimsocal]

OK, I looked at a lot of fincas out on gravel roads, and inevitably the finca I was interested in was about 50-150 meters from an electric pole.

The realtor would always say, "That's no big deal; you can run your own cable from the transformer, put up your own poles, and have electricity for under $1000". When pushed they would admit that if you do it this way, ICE will not come out and work on it if there are problems, you are responsible for getting it to work, yourself.. Which doesn't seem so bad... I've also seen, firsthand,that a lot of houses HAVE wired their electricity this way, bringing in the cable themselves, to their property, from 100 meters or more...

Then someone else told me, "Yes, some people do that, but it is ILLEGAL!" But then others told me, no, it's not illegal, ICE lets you do it, they can't deny you electricity, they just won't fix it for you or help you.

So maybe it depends on what region of the country you live in, whether or not ICE will object to this? I mean, what are they going to do, come out and tear your cable down because they didn't put it in?

If so, how much do they charge for bringing in electricity from 100 meters away?

I've found no real solid information on this. In fact, from what I hear, even ICE says one thing one time, and another thing another time... maybe it depends on who you know.. or who you... ? You get my meaning...

So please, someone, tell me what the real deal is on bringing in electricity...

[Russ]

This is a great question with a lot of food for thought. 

- Any property you look at should have electricity or the realtor (or owner) should be very clear from the beginning that the electricity is XXX meters away.  This affects the price, and substantially if it is more than the 50 - 150 you are talking about. 

- The distance you are talking with the owner might be to the entrance or property line, you have to also consider what might be the difference to your building site. The CNFL (electric company subsidiary of ICE) will run wiring a fairly long distance if you provide posts for them.

- ICE provides electricity to 97.06% of the population.  So you might think that you don't have to worry about coverage on land, but as you have noted 97% of coverage for the population doesn't necessarily mean that 97% of Costa Rica's area is covered.  So the point is that if you are looking for properties in rural areas you may wish to budget for alternative energy resources like solar, hydro or wind.  There are several local companies that specialize in helping individuals and businesses use these resources, which in any case can serve as a back up system if you are able to connect to the grid.

I called the CNFL for basic information about rural connections.  What you have to do as a first step is get the number of the closest meter to the property.  Then you can begin the process of asking for an electrical connection.  The policy is to provide electricity nationwide, but obviously the budget is limited.  Within the property the official guideline is 2 meters.  As practical matter they will install more than that. However if it is a long distance, then you have to purchase the addtional cable yourself to the actual building. They connect to the meter

I will try to work through a contact in the CNFL to get more specific information about the last mile. But my feeling is that it would be faster, more reliable and cheaper to generate your own in cases where you are more than 500 meters to 1 kilometer from the grid. I mean even if you are talking about only 150 meters the CNFL would probably have to come and install two posts in order to get to your property, and the priorities are obviously that the poorer more populous areas get budgeted first. So the next question is obviously is it possible to capitalize the installation?  This is what I will try to find out... and keep you posted, so to speak.

[Russ]

I spoke with the Guadalupe sucursal of the CNFL.  The first step in getting electricity to a property is to ask for a study at the nearest CNFL branch office to the property. You have to take:

- Escritura (the paper the lawyer makes that says who is purchasing the property from who and will show who the owner is)
- Exact address of the property
- Electric Meter number of closest neighbor.  (stamped on the meter or taken from their bill)
- Fill out form asking for study.

Then the office will send an inspector to make a study of the situation and they will inform you of whether or not they can bring electricity to your property. They said the studies are done on a case by case basis. They couldn't give me average figures on what a reasonable distance might be or whether or not the customer could offer to pay for the cost of the equipment in order to expedite the process.

In case the application was denied you could possible talk to the ICE commercial section, telling them that you were going to set up the farm to export ornamental flowers or something. 
http://www.grupoice.com/esp/serv/ele_comp/serv_cliente/consul_tec.htm 

The more I think about it, in my opinion  it seems that if the property doesn't have electricity you have to buy it as is and at a price that reflects the current infrastructure to the property.  If you need electricity connected, then you should look for a farm that has it, which will be of course more expensive. Or have an alternative way to get power, which you are considering as part of the price for the property.

I'm not saying that the realtor or owner is lying, but I am saying that the CNFL stated that they take these matters on a case by case basis.  I am imagining a rural area with 1 farm at the end of the road and a single Gringo owner asking them to extend the lines to his or her property.  If it was only 150 meters it is possible it could happen, but I could also see them saying that that money would be better spent connecting an indigenous community or having to put it into extending the line to a farm that a developer was subdividing.