Utilities

This page repeats and consolidates some information we have elsewhere on the site.  However, the information about telephone utilities is new. (Added in February 2002)

Electric

Electricity is provided by BEL -- Belize Electric, Limited.  BEL was recently privatized, and now they are pushing a dam -- the Chililo Project -- which will provide more electricity and "free Belize from outside power sources."  In fact, BEL is mostly owned by Canadian interests, and the dam will be built by a Canadian firm, and it will not come close to freeing Belize from outside power sources.  Most of the electricity here comes from a big power plant up close to Merida in Mexico.  They shut down the power about once a week for ??maintenance?? usually on Sunday Morning, for a couple of hours.  (Sometimes Saturday.)    

The electricity provided is 110 Volts, 60 cycles.  It usually meets these standards. It is more expensive than most electricity in the States, but perhaps no more than California.  Here are details on the rates.   

Gas 

By gas, I meant Propane or Butane.  (Is that what you had in mind??)  For the scoop on Gasoline, click here

Propane boils at about -145 degrees F. while Butane boils at about 28, hence Butane would not work in a cold climate where it is needed!  However, it works just fine in Belize and it's a little cheaper than Propane, and it produces more heat. Some people put a different fitting on appliances; we just turn down the hot water heater a little so that it doesn't blow itself out. 

Most everyone cooks with Butane, and if you want a clothes dryer, you would do a lot better getting a gas one. You won't need a heater.  <grin>

Rates went up some in 2001but a fill is still a little less than what I paid for Propane in Colorado. 

Water

All towns, and most villages try to supply piped water to their citizens.  The quality of water varies, depending upon the depth of the well.  To get good clear water in Belize, you probably need to go down 100 feet or more, and so most of the "pipe water" (their term) is hard and perhaps brackish tasting.  After collection, it is heavily chlorinated, so most people drink bottled water (about five dollah a gallon, delivered to your door) or rain water, which accumulates in a "vat" (cistern) which catches the rain runoff from the roof. Here in Corozal, the water is safe enough to brush your teeth, but we drink Crystal and use it to make our coffee. The minimum charge is $7.50BZ a month and we use a lot more during the dry months to keep our plants healthy and green. 

Trash Pickup

We call it "Trash" or "Garbage" in the States.  In the UK it's "Rubbish".  Here, it's "dirt" -- you carry it out by the curb and put it in a "dirt box" or a "dirt bin".  When we first got here, there were five cane trucks, each complete with a crew of five pitchfork-wielding caneros picking up trash about one a week.  Then the town board gave the contract to a private contractor with a really giant super-modern Garbage Truck.  Now the truck and two pickup men comes by twice a week (often in the middle of the night). You must put your trash in bags. No charge, unless you have a pickup load of stuff sitting there, in which case they may want five dollah to pick it up.  

Mail

The Belize Postal Service is not the USPS, but it's not too bad, and it's getting better all the time.  You can get a PO box if you live out of town, and they will deliver mail to you locally if they know where you live, and if you put your name and address on the outside of your house.  You have to go pick up packages, and there is a little "inspection fee" (about a dollah) to pay, and perhaps some duty and taxes, particularly if the package is insured. (They will charge you a percentage of the insured amount.)  Marlene, one of the more visible local gringas, had her daughter send her an electric percolator, and the daughter innocently listed the value at $50.  That's 100 dollahs, and Marlene wound up paying more in duty and tax than her daughter did for the coffee pot!  At any rate, mail takes about 10 days to get here, packages take a little longer because they sometimes wait in Belize City for the next package run to the 'burbs.  A tip -- the address is: Corozal Town, Belize, C. A. (for Central America) but don't put C.A. on it in the States or it will go to California and they will mark it "No Such Town".  Spell it out -- CENTRAL AMERICA.

Telephone

Belize Telecommunications, Limited (BTL) provides telephone service throughout Belize.  The equipment meets the Bell standard, which means that your home phone equipment & modems will work here just like they do in the States.  (Cel phones may not meet the standard.)  Features such as Call Waiting and Caller ID are available, but not as necessary because we don't have the multitude of phone solicitors that you have in the states. (Oh, happy day!! )   BTL has a very extensive cel phone network, and there is a new competitor, called Smart!, offered by Speednet.

Previous to 2003, BTL had a 15-year monopoly on all telecommunications in and out of the country, with a few special exceptions.  Their licence (NOT A CONTRACT) expired in December 2002 and the monopoly was not renewed. However, they continued to operate in a monopoly status which is explained here.  In February 2002) the GOB signed a 15-year agreement with a new company -- Intelco -- to build a new broadband network for the government and furnish 5000 internet-connected computers for schools.  Intelco built about 12 towers around the country, installed about a thousand computers in schools and a couple of internet cafes, and then went bankrupt, owing about $100 million to Belize and a US bank.    

The rates charged by BTL are exorbitant. Over the past several years, BTL has enjoyed profit margins of around 40% (We compare BTL's monopoly with the Bell monopoly in the US here.)   Most of the profits have been taken by the Carlyle Group, lead by Lord Michael Ashcroft, a Brit and naturalized Belizean citizen.  BTL history, and Ashcroft's relationship with the GOB (Govt. of Belize) is described in detail here.   

New Phone Numbers:  BTL went to the standard international set of numbers, with a 3-digit area code (501)  and a 7 digit number.  If you have an old number, you can convert it here.  This is a clue to the age of a website that you are looking at.  If it has 2+5, it is out of date. 

My Internet Service.  Currently, I subscribe to BTL's lowest category of DSL, available 24x7.  After some problems with union strikes in April, it came back up in May and I have had connectivity continuously since then.  It is slow.  Promising 100K, they deliver around 50K consistently.  This is much better than the 23-24K dialup service I put up with from 1999 to 2003, but not nearly as good as DSL in the US.  Wireless is available someplace.  (?)  

Shenanigans. The entire telecommunications business is a mess in Belize.  It will probably get straightened out this year.  You do have options now, but I hope things will get better by next year.  Read about the mess here and then you can comment or ask questions directly  to me.

Stellar Links. New. My old partner and friend Hugo now has a calling center in Corozal.  His office is at 39A 4th Avenue (half a block north of Reyes) and he offers calls to the US for $5 dollah a half hour, $2.50 min. for 15 minutes or less.  You can inquire by mail here.

Newest:  I have added a page to discuss the Telephone Situation here.

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