Managing Power for Millions: My Journey Through the Heart of Mexico’s Energy Sector
Can you imagine having a job that serves half the entire population of Canada within a single metropolitan area?
In the world of electrical engineering and project management, scale is everything. My career began at the age of 19 when I joined Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC), a government-owned utility that was the heartbeat of Central Mexico. With over 45,000 employees and a responsibility that spanned the country’s most vital economic corridor, LyFC was more than a company—it was a monumental engineering challenge.
From the Ground Up: The Technical Foundation
I started my journey as a technician in the lowest-ranking position. Looking back, I consider those early years some of the most formative of my professional life. My “office” was the company’s vast network of substations.
My responsibilities focused on the critical “nervous system” of the grid:
Control & Communications: Troubleshooting failures across the substation network.
RTUs (Remote Terminal Units): Performing preventive and corrective maintenance on the units responsible for data transmission between substations and control centers.
Carrier Wave Units: Managing the transmission of data, voice, and protection signals across high-voltage lines.
This period taught me that behind every massive city is a delicate web of communication protocols that must be maintained with zero margin for error.
The Scale: A Continental Comparison
To understand the complexity of the region I served, we have to look at the numbers. LyFC covered approximately 20,500 km²—roughly 1% of Mexico’s territory—yet it powered over 20 to 30 million people.
To put this in a Canadian perspective, to reach that many customers, you would have to combine the entire populations of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta.
Imagine a single utility serving every major Canadian city from Toronto and Montreal to Calgary and Vancouver. That was my daily reality.
Advancing to Leadership: The Budget & Operations Challenge
Fifteen years after starting as a technician, I advanced to one of the top 300 positions within the 45,000-person organization. As the Head of the Budget Department, I managed five work centers and oversaw a massive operational portfolio:
High-Demand Client Management: Coordinating new electrical services and expansions for industrial and commercial clients with demands exceeding 25 kW.
Infrastructure Logistics: Managing the connection of specialized electrical meters and service disconnections.
Stakeholder Relations: Navigating a complex landscape of unionized personnel, government mandates, and private enterprise.
Where Power Meets Policy
At this level, the job transcended engineering; it became a masterclass in high-stakes project management.
The Pressure: Can you imagine receiving calls directly from the Presidential Office regarding a service complaint or a business owner’s request?
The Clients: Every day, my office floor saw representatives from the world’s biggest brands—Walmart, Starbucks, 7-Eleven, and Home Depot—alongside major banks and government institutions.
The Human Element: Managing a large, unionized workforce in the most densely populated residential and industrial area in Latin America requires a balance of technical expertise and diplomatic leadership.
Conclusion: Bringing Global Scale to Local Projects
My time at Luz y Fuerza del Centro taught me how to manage pressure, complexity, and scale. Whether I was fixing a carrier wave unit in a remote substation or negotiating a budget for a multi-megawatt industrial expansion, the goal was always the same: keep the lights on for the millions of people depending on us.
Today, I bring that same level of rigor and “big-picture” thinking to every project I lead.
