This Sunday, April 7 , marks the beginning of the daylight saving time (DST) in most parts of Mexico . We recommend that you advance your clock one hour on the night of Saturday 6 , before bedtime.
George Hudson proposed the idea of daylight saving in 1895 . The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation starting on April 30, 1916 .
Many countries have used the DST at various times since then, particularly since the 1970s energy crisis . DST is generally not observed near the equator, where sunrise times do not vary enough to justify it. Some countries observe it only in some regions; for example, southern Brazil observes it, while equatorial Brazil does not. Only a minority of the world's population uses DST, because Asia and Africa generally do not observe it.
This practice aims to reduce electricity consumption used mainly on lighting. The daylight saving time reduces one hour of energy consumption during the night and has a larger impact in the domestic sector.
According to recent data from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (SENER) , economic savings from this measure were estimated at MXN$1.39 billion in 2018 , with an average cost of 1.48 pesos per kilowatt hour (kWh) among domestic users.
The Foundation for Electrical Energy Savings (FIDE) informed that the daylight saving time had resulted in electric power savings of 941,019 Gigawatts per hour (Gwh), which would be enough to supply energy for 589 homes throughout an entire year, with an average consumption of 266 kWh every two months.
The daylight saving time began on March 10, 2019 in 33 municipalities near the Mexico-U.S. border
, while the measure has not been applied in the state of Sonora, since they maintain the same schedule throughout the year to be in keeping with the U.S. state of Arizona.
Quintana Roo has not applied the daylight saving time since 2015, with aims to promote tourism.
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