Josie P. Says:
I heard people don’t get regular mail in Costa Rica. So how do you receive and pay utility bills?
IL Costa Rica Correspondent Bekah Bottone Says:
Hi Josie,
It’s true that bills are usually not sent to your home in Costa Rica. So, it’s your responsibility to find out the bill due dates and pay on time. Utility companies are quick to shut off service in cases of late payments.
Luckily, paying your utility bills is easy. For telephone, water, and electric you can pay at your local office; at some grocery store checkouts; pay stations in shopping centers; other locations known as ServiMas (although the presence of these is limited in the coastal areas); at banks; and even some pharmacies.
In all cases they’ll print out your bill, you pay (cash only), and get a receipt. Just bring your account numbers.
Banks now have online bill pay available so you can skip the travel time and pay utilities, services, your Caja (healthcare) payment, annual Marchamo (auto registration), and even your property taxes/trash collection with a few clicks. Once you open a local bank account, it will greatly ease your time-consuming bill paying necessities.
Electricity is provided by government-run ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) and a host of other smaller private and local companies.
ICE runs landline telephones exclusively. Water and sewer service is provided by AyA (Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados), as well as a number of regional and private providers.
We go into all kinds of nuts-and-bolts details like this in our comprehensive guidebook, Escape to Costa Rica.