Monday's announcement from the country's energy and treasury secretaries has
                 dominated Mexican newspaper headlines and radio talk shows for three days.

                 Analysts said the action would mean higher inflation. The electrical workers union
                 called it excessive. Business leaders said the utility would do better to cut fat and
                 make its operations more efficient.

                 Treasury Secretary Francisco Gil Diaz and Energy Secretary Ernesto Martens told
                 a news conference Monday that the 10 billion pesos $1 billion saved through
                 reduced subsidies would go to maintenance, distribution and electricity generation.

                 Gil said that subsidies grew from 10 billion pesos (about $1 billion) in 1995 to 35
                 billion ($3.5 billion) last year and would have reached 40 billion ($4 billion) this year
                 if they had not been reduced.

                 The plan would cut electricity subsidies for residents who use more than 125
                 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, starting Friday.

                 Only about 30 percent of all residential consumers use that much, Gil said, though
                 officials have not clarified what the average increase per customer would be.

                 Javier Rubiera wasn't convinced by the arguments.

                 "I think it's going to affect everybody," the 41-year-old systems engineer said while
                 getting his shoes shined on a Mexico City boulevard.

                 Rubiera, who owns a computer, televisions, a refrigerator, lights and "all that is
                 indispensable to a house," expected to see an increase in his bill.

                 He said the government needs to charge more for many currently subsidized
                 services -- but only after complete study.

                 "They can't just do it from one day to the next," he said.

                 An editorial cartoon in the newspaper El Universal on Wednesday showed a
                 confused-looking Gil with a light bulb over his head and the words: "Less than 125
                 kilowatts."

                 Francisco Rodriguez, 52, an unemployed civil engineer, said that instead of
                 penalizing consumers already struggling t o pay their bills, the electric company
                 should start charging the street vendors and shantytown residents who routinely
                 steal electricity by hooking their own cables up to public lines.

                 In Mexico City's tourist-oriented Pink Zone, illegal cables snake from dozens of
                 fruit stands, newspaper kiosks and handicraft booths.

                 Roberto, a 28-year-old vendor who would only give his first name for fear of
                 repercussions, said he does pay for the electricity that lights three bulbs in his
                 newspaper stand. It's just that the company isn't getting the money.

                 "I had a meter and was paying," Roberto said. "But then the manager at the light
                 company said, 'Hey, forget about it. It's better if you just pay me once a month.'
                 The government gives you the option. They support this."

                  Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.