Production costs of private power companies in Mexico are just over half the costs of the state-owned utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE). IPPs generate at a price of Peso 0.78/kWh (euro 0.05/kWh), compared to Peso 1.59/kWh (euro 0.11/kWh) for CFE, a difference attributed to the use of modern combined cycle plants by the private sector.
Private companies generated some 28% of the electricity sold by CFE in the first quarter of 2004, with Spain’s Iberdrola and Electricite de France the largest private generators.