Services

My experience is with Estelí. I welcome more input.

Electricity

Electricity is supplied by Finosa Union, a Spanish company. They seem to be increasing rates at an amazing pace. There is, however, no increase in the quality of service. Here are the residential rates I am paying in May 2004. Note that the exchange rate is about C$16 to the US$. Note that the rate is graduated such that the price per unit goes up with consumption.

Kwh	C$/Kwh
First 25	.72270
next 25	1.55690
next 50	1.63730
next ???	2.16380

I have 81Kwh in the last rate category. No idea if and when there is a further increase. My total bill was C$391.03 which includes a computer urnning all the time and all of my neighbor's electricity (lights and TV) as well.

Water

I guess this is water and sewer as the bill goes to ENACAL, Empresa Nicaragüense de Acuductos Y Alcantarillados Sanitarios, but there is no line-item for sewer on the bill. There are the following lines on my June bill:

Description	C$
Cargo Fijo [fixed charge]	C$4.24
Consumo de Agua	C$66.78

My garbage bill, which is separate, is $C5/month.

For cell phones, you have options. However, at this point, only Enitel offers service for most of the country. This is changing. I bought a new phone with $50 worth of service time on it for about $100.