Belize is a young, developing country with limited manpower and resources, so building and maintaining a sophisticated utility infrastructure has been a challenge. Water and electricity are available in the cities and most small towns, but once you get into more remote or rural areas you'll find that people there are living very much off the grid. However, development in Belize is gaining momentum. Sewers are expanding, waste management is improving and, while it may not be up to North American or European standards, the people of Belize are beginning to enjoy some fairly sophisticated utilities and services.
You'll often deal with a monopoly when setting up utilities in Belize. Electricity is supplied by one company, as were phone and internet services until just recently. Water infrastructure and "sewerage", as it's known in Belize and the UK, are controlled by another monopoly. While this can make for an easy choice, services are occasionally expensive and limited. In 1999, the government established the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to regulate the utilities sector. The PUC tries to maintain fair prices and business practices while at the same time monitoring safety, development, growth and customer satisfaction.
Telephone/Cellphones
Belize has above average phone service and possibly the best in the region. The major phone company, Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), used to monopolize the communications industry in Belize, but other companies are starting to provide some competition. Formerly called Belize Telecommunications Limited, BTL provides most of the service throughout the country and will most likely be the company you'll deal with when setting up phone or internet service.
Local land lines aren't very expensive, usually around USD$10 a month for basic home service and USD$50 a month for the deluxe home packages and basic business packages. In Belize, there's roughly one land line for every 11 people. Installation costs USD$50 with a USD$100 deposit. It can often take two weeks to get a land line.
Cell phones are much more popular, outnumbering land lines 4-to-1. Service around the country is decent, more so in urban areas, with various technologies employed to keep signals strong. If your cell phone from outside of Belize is a GSM 1900 MHz phone, it will work in Belize. You may need to have your phone unlocked to install a new SIM card. This can be done at the BTL offices around the country, including one in the international airport, for USD$25. Cell phones are also available for rent at the same offices, which usually cost around USD$5 a day, with a USD$150 deposit.
Prepaid phone cards are the most popular method of payment and can be purchased directly through your phone or at a cell phone retailer. If you're with BTL, make sure you get a DigiCell brand phone card, or else it may not work. Pay attention to the expiration date, as it can vary from 30 days to 90 days depending on the amount purchased. Calls are USD$0.125 or USD$0.25 a minute and monthly cell phone plans range from USD$25-$100.
Public phones aren't uncommon, though their use is quickly declining as cell phones become more and more popular. The newer pay phones accept only prepaid phone cards as payment rather than coins. Local calls cost USD$0.25 and calls to other districts cost USD$0.50.
International Direct Dialing is available in Belize. Long distance rates are notoriously expensive, ranging from USD$0.14 a minute to upwards of USD$1.00 a minute, depending on the time of day, country you're calling and type of phone you use. Phone numbers in Belize are seven digits and the country code is 501.
Internet
Local internet service is available throughout most of Belize, with the exception of the smaller villages and rural areas. About one in ten people use the internet which, like the phone service, is heavily controlled by BTL. The telecommunications company used to have a legal monopoly as the sole Internet Service Provider and, though its license ended in early 2003, it still dominates the field. Service is usually reliable and BTL offers many different options depending on your location, from dial-up to DSL and wireless connections. Rates vary from USD$50 a month to USD$250 a month. Installation costs are USD$100 and you'll have the option to rent a modem for USD$15 a month.
A few companies have recently started offering satellite internet in Belize and many people are opting to go with that instead of through BTL, especially those who live in areas where BTL doesn't have the infrastructure to provide service. Monthly rates range from USD$60 to USD$150 and features like speed and download limits vary by plan. There is also a transmit/receive terminal license fee of USD$150 a year which goes to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). If you're considering importing your satellite dish, it would be wise to contact the PUC before-hand, as there may be some paperwork which could save you considerable hassle at the border.
Most major hotels offer internet service, whether in-room or in a public area, and internet cafés are popping up all over the place. Cybercafés can be found in most towns, cities and major tourist destinations. Hourly rates vary from USD$2 to USD$10 an hour and prepaid internet cards are available from BTL in various denominations at a rate of USD$5 an hour.
A major complaint in Belize is BTL’s interference with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. Skype, Vonage and other services are blocked for BTL customers, but the telecommunications company does offer its own VoIP service called Webtalk. Webtalk allows you to make calls through your computer to anywhere in the world and rates are comparable to what you would pay with Skype in Belize.
Television
Belizeans love their TV, with two local broadcast channels and several local cable channels available. Local broadcast TV can be picked up with an antenna, though in some areas the signal can be patchy or non-existent. For those who are serious about their television, the best bet is cable or satellite.
Cable is available in every major town and city in the country, run through fiber-optic cables. Most of the fiber optics are owned by BTL, who in turn licenses them to the various cable companies around the country. Cable TV costs an average of USD$20 a month and usually comes with about 100 channels. Some are local stations and many are rebroadcast American channels like HBO, CBS and NBC.
Many Canadian and American satellite companies have satellite footprints that extend into Belize and it's quite possible to pick them up - though a larger dish is occasionally required. There are a few businesses who provide and install satellites, though they are rare.
Postal Services/Couriers
Considering the slower pace of life in Belize, the Belize Postal Service is refreshingly prompt and efficient. Mail is picked up at 10 a.m. Monday to Friday. Service is generally reliable and delivery of local mail can usually be counted on within one to three days. Once out of the country, things are a little less predictable. Mail to North America can take five days to a few weeks and mail overseas is often upwards of ten days. There are occasions where delivery slows, which can extend for weeks and months, but the service is getting better. Postage rates range from USD$0.30 for a letter to the U.S. to USD$0.40 for a letter to Europe, with postcards costing half as much.
Most places in Belize don't have proper addresses, especially in rural communities. In urban areas, it's possible to have mail delivered directly to your door if you display your address, and if the post office knows you, but generally people rent a private box at the post office. While not expensive, P.O. boxes are sometimes in short supply. The Belize Postal Service also offers a mail holding service for extended absences, express mailing for next day delivery within Belize, and mail forwarding services.
Parcels are not delivered but held at the post office for pickup. For parcels arriving from outside Belize, duty is charged on the value of the item as well as the freight costs and any insurance on the parcel, to be paid upon receipt. Duty charges are up to 50 percent of the value, depending on the item.
For the sender in a hurry, DHL and FedEx each have an office in Belize City. Courier services will deliver worldwide within one to three days.
Belize is such a small country that some people don't even know it exists, or they think it's in Africa. Postal services sometimes have trouble organizing parcels to Belize, so it's important to write out "Central America" in the address. Write it out in full, too, as packages addressed to "C.A." often get shipped to Venezuela or California.
Electricity/Gas
Belize uses the same two or three pronged plugs that run 120/240V as North America. Though some areas have occasional power outages, Belize has relatively good electric service and infrastructure, with over 90 percent of households using some sort of electricity, whether self-generated or purchased from Belize Electricity Limited (BEL). A subsidiary of the Canadian energy company Fortis Inc., BEL has a monopoly in Belize and much of their power is generated from big diesel generators around the country or imported from Mexico. Energy prices in Belize are the highest in the region. A new connection will cost USD$100 and electricity ranges from USD$0.17 per kWh to USD$0.26 per kWh for residential customers.
If you're buying a property that's already hooked up to an existing line, call BEL to get connected. When building a property, get in touch with BEL early in the planning stages if you intend to tap into their lines. If a line extension is required on BEL's part, they'll need time to prepare a cost estimate for you, as poles may be put on other people's land, trees trimmed or cleared, equipment ordered and so on. Keep an eye on the quotes and make sure everything is clear and mutually understood. Line extensions will be billed to you and can get very expensive very quickly. If there is a problem with the bill, it would be better to know about it beforehand as disputes can get complicated after the fact. If you have a problem, you can contact the Public Utilities Commission.
Once you're ready to be connected, whether you're setting up a new connection or your wiring has been modified, BEL is required to perform an inspection of the property and submit it to the Public Utilities Commission before switching on the power. It usually takes about a week from the time you send in an application for inspection to connection. Once connected, it is advisable to get surge protectors, as the occasional power surge is expected. Brownouts are also common, so battery backups are advised.
Many people choose to stay off the grid and produce their own power. Diesel or gasoline generators are quite popular, solar panels are becoming increasingly cost-effective and even wind turbines can be seen on larger properties. Butane, rather than propane, is heavily used in Belize. Over 80 percent of Belizeans use butane, often for cooking, heating water and drying clothes, and there are quite a few companies around Belize that sell washers and dryers, water heaters and refrigerators that run on butane. It's also easy to find companies that will deliver large tanks to your home. A one hundred pound tank costs about USD$60 and should last about a month.
Water/Sewer
Belize Water Services Ltd. is the country's water and sewage utility company responsible for maintaining, developing and improving Belize's infrastructure. As a young developing country, the system is still in its infancy. Belize City and Belmopan have small municipal sewer systems, but most other towns use septic tanks. A third of the population uses pit latrines and public bathrooms are rare - though some businesses and hotels will let you use theirs. There have been and continue to be problems with waste leaking into groundwater and emptying into the rivers and the sea, causing the contamination of much of the water in Belize.
Belizeans get their potable water from a variety of sources. Bottled water is available for delivery right to your door, usually around USD$2.50 per gallon. Belize has no shortage of rainfall, so collecting rain water in large basins or cisterns is common. During the dry season, from February to May, you can't always count on the rain, so wells are quite common throughout the country. People lucky enough to live near a river or creek often use them as main water sources. As rivers and wells can be contaminated or run dry during the dry season, people often choose a combination of several methods, using water from different sources for different purposes.
Where Belize has piping infrastructure, the water is chlorinated before being distributed so there are fewer contamination problems. Over 80 percent of the population of Belize has access to piped water infrastructure, though only a third of them choose to drink it. Many Belizeans drink bottled water and others drink from personal wells or collected rain water.
The lowest cost for piped water is in rural areas. In Belize City and Belmopan, where sewer networks exist, the monthly rate is slightly higher. In San Pedro, where water services are more complicated and with a very limited sewer grid, the cost is over double what you would pay on the mainland.
To set up a piped water or sewer connection, you'll need to be within an existing Belize Water Services area. Contact Belize Water Services and they'll have you hooked up within two weeks. A new water connection fee is USD$42.50 and a sewer connection fee is USD$50. For homes in San Pedro, tack on an extra 50 percent to the bill. You'll also have to put down a security deposit of USD$25.
Garbage Removal
In the larger towns and cities, there are basic garbage removal services, where homeowners put their garbage - called "dirt" in Belize - out on the curb once or twice a week and a truck picks it up. Garbage is then taken to landfill sites and burned. Depending on the area, the service could be free or cost from USD$2.50 to USD$10 a month. People also have the option of bringing their own garbage to the dump, though there is a small fee attached.
Unfortunately, some Belizeans choose to avoid the fee and illegally dump their garbage on the side of the road. Some construction sites and other businesses are also notorious for dumping their waste materials in ditches, rivers or out at sea. While some areas in Belize are quite clean, others have issues with garbage piling up along the road or washing up on shore. While the problem is often seen as significant, efforts by locals to clean up Belize are always underway, varying in scope from a single person on foot to entire sports teams gathering hundreds of bags for proper disposal.
There are no recycling programs in Belize, though plastic and glass bottles can be returned for a refund. Some are melted down, but beer bottles are sterilized, refilled and reused.
In rural areas, where garbage removal services are scarce, people often burn their waste. There are a variety of methods, such as incinerators, burn barrels and simple pits.
Utilities Budget
Sample monthly costs:
- Telephone Land Line: USD$10 - USD$50
- Cell Phone: USD$25 - USD$100
- Internet: USD$50 - USD$250
- Cable: USD$20
- Electricity (1000 kWh): USD$170 - USD$260
- Butane: USD$60
- Water: USD$25
- Total: USD$360 - USD$765