This is a CATCH story<\/p>
This story is part of Dialogue Earth\u2019s work on the Community Adaptations to City Heat (CATCH) project, in partnership with Boston University. The project is funded by Wellcome. All Dialogue Earth content is editorially independent. Every summer, Mexicali records the highest temperatures in Mexico. In August 2025, the mercury hit a record 52.7C<\/a>. To cope with the heat, Hern\u00e1ndez uses air conditioning throughout the home, pushing her electricity bills up to MXN 3,000 (USD 177) a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The family\u2019s monthly income of MXN 6,000 soon proved insufficient to cover the cost of electricity, the MXN 1,000-a-month psychological therapy sessions for her son, and other essential living expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was difficult to pay [the electricity bills]; I couldn\u2019t afford the therapy,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez tells Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Families like hers are the target of the Solar Roofs for Wellbeing programme, announced<\/a> in March 2025 by President Sheinbaum. This initiative aims to tackle energy poverty by subsidising solar panel home installations for households with vulnerable members. For example, minors, the elderly, single mothers and people with disabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One year after the programme began operations, Dialogue Earth heard from several sources that it is having a positive impact on the economy and family health. But some say it will not be enough to eradicate energy poverty in the country\u2019s hottest city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hern\u00e1ndez signed up for the solar programme in July 2025, drawn by the promise of cheaper electricity. That November, local authorities came to install the panels. \u201cI thought it was all a lie, but I was actually selected. My electricity bill has gone down a lot.\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez is now paying MXN 500-1,000 a month, rather than highs of 3,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to Dialogue Earth\u2019s freedom of information request, the Ministry of Social Welfare for Baja California (the state that encompasses Mexicali) said the programme had benefited 5,134 families across Mexicali and the city of San Felipe between March 2025 and July 2026: \u201cBeneficiary families in Baja California have managed to reduce their annual electricity expenditure by up to 60% on average, achieving savings of up to 85% during the months of peak consumption in summer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This May, state authorities announced<\/a> the launch of the programme in 5,000 homes in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora state, 700 km south-east of Mexicali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Campaigners and academics warn many vulnerable families are yet to benefit from the scheme. They say the programme needs to be complemented by other measures, such as greater energy bill subsidies and the replacement of old household appliances with newer, more energy efficient models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hern\u00e1ndez family have had air conditioning since they arrived in Mexicali 20 years ago. Over that time, there have been several occasions when the family\u2019s electricity was cut off after failing to pay the bill. Without air conditioning, temperatures in the home become dangerous for Angel and Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s partner, who works as a gardener in the sun all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy son\u2019s mental development is at half his actual age, so for him, the heat is like putting a child out in the sun,\u201d she explains. \u201cHe gets distressed and restless; we had to give him a bath every so often to cool him down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The human body regulates its internal temperature to around 37C, via the evaporation of sweat when temperatures rise. When the body absorbs more heat than it can release, this causes heat stress, which can lead to anything from dizziness and fainting to kidney damage and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between late March (the start of north Mexico\u2019s 2026 hot season) and early September, Baja California recorded<\/a> 56 heat-related deaths. The vast majority were attributed to heat stroke, and three to dehydration. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the solar panel programme, the city has launched initiatives such as the installation of hydration points to prevent heat-related deaths. But government initiatives are up against the reality of more frequent extreme weather events as the planet warms. Since Mexico\u2019s General Climate Change Law was introduced in 2012, the state has warned<\/a> that the extremely high temperatures experienced in Mexicali will have major impacts on public health, productivity and energy consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mexico is not the only country where solar panels have been identified as a health protection strategy for vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Patricia Fabi\u00e1n, associate director of the Institute for Global Sustainability at Boston University in the US, agrees that initiatives to subsidise solar panels yield significant health benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The non-profit Boston Medical Center runs the Clean Power Prescription<\/a> programme. Under this initiative, solar panels on the medical centre\u2019s roof generate energy credits, which are then granted to low-income patients to lower their bills at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Solar projects have also been developed in other US cities, including Phoenix in the state of Arizona. Here, the local government partnered with Solar United Neighbours to install renewable energy systems in 10 homes between 2023 and 2024. Electricity savings amount to an average of approximately USD 1,000 a year per household.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An assessment<\/a> of the Phoenix project found it helped participants to keep their homes cool without worrying about cost. Participants said they felt \u201cproud to be part of the solution to climate change\u201d, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Near Boston, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a pioneering, community-led solar microgrid<\/a> is under development, ideated by the environmental justice group GreenRoots and managed by the city. The project uses hundreds of solar panels to help power key city buildings, and the system could ultimately benefit low-income households struggling with energy bills, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fabi\u00e1n adds that, currently, solar panels and other energy savings are largely discussed in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions \u2013 the potentially massive direct health benefits are being overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Activists and academics in Mexicali hope the city\u2019s solar panel programme is able to grow and improve, to reach more households experiencing energy poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriela Mu\u00f1oz Mel\u00e9ndez, a lecturer of urban studies and the environment at Mexico\u2019s Northern Border College (Colef), says the solar panel programme must overcome the challenges previously faced by similar Mexicali initiatives. She has analysed the Valle de las Misiones programme, launched in 2007, which provided 220 social housing units with solar power and insulation. She says some simply ended up using the panels as tables, while others opted for \u201cstealing the copper\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mu\u00f1oz Mel\u00e9ndez suggests building inventories of all the household appliances implicated in the scheme, followed by upgrading lower efficiency items \u2013 thus reducing energy consumption in the first place. She also advises both structural and circuitry checks to ensure each home can practically support solar panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The need is clear. Up to 46.6 million Mexicans live in energy poverty, which includes 18% of households concentrated along the border with the US, according to Ministry of Energy analysis<\/a> published in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sergio Tamai Garc\u00eda leads the Mexicali Civic Front (FCM). The citizens\u2019 group has compiled more than 600 complaints this year from residents over what Tamai calls \u201ccrazy\u201d electricity bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mexico\u2019s electricity tariffs were set decades ago by the National Water Commission, based on the average temperature data. The average temperature for Mexicali was set at 33C<\/a> but since then, the city\u2019s average temperature has been predicted to rise by 1.7-1.9C<\/a> between 2010 and 2039.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tamai tells Dialogue Earth he is attempting to arrange talks with the federal authorities, to request a reduction in the electricity tariff for Mexicali that better reflects its temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the \u201ccrazy bills\u201d that Garc\u00eda was sent amounted to 90,000 pesos, in a city where the minimum wage is MXN 441 a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBills, bills, bills<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"people](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Solar-Roofs-for-Wellbeing-programme_Government-of-Mexico.jpeg\")
<\/div>Health and extreme heat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Boston benefits from power prescriptions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Extreme heat, no electricity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"ground](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Baja-California-solar-installation_Government-of-Mexico.jpeg\")
<\/div>