Who has solar panels in Mexico?

Mexico's 2025 Intercensal Survey (INEGI) carries a figure that went almost unnoticed. The share of Mexican homes with solar panels nearly doubled in five years, from 0.81% to 1.53%.

The map shows two solar Mexicos. In the mountains, panels stand in for a grid that never arrived. In the cities they cluster in Monterrey, Durango, Zapopan and Mérida, far more than in Mexico City.

The 2020 census microdata show who has them. The richest 10% of urban households were 6 times as likely to have a panel as the poorest 10%. At the same income, homes with air conditioning were 3 to 7 times as likely.

That creates a paradox for CFE, the state utility. 99 in 100 households pay a subsidised electricity rate, and only the heaviest users pay the full tariff (DAC). That is exactly where panels are going up. In municipalities where the most households paid DAC, there are 2.6 times as many panels today as where almost nobody paid it. Each of those households is revenue that no longer goes into maintaining the grid, and with panels and a battery, a blackout becomes someone else's problem.