The consumption of electricity by maquiladora industries in the Mexican border states is an important driver for determining future powerplant needs in that area. An industrial electricity forecasting model is developed for the border states' maquiladoras, and the outputs are compared with a reference forecasting model developed for the US industrial sector, for which considerably more data are available. This model enables the prediction of the effect of implementing various energy efficiency measures in the industrial sector. As an illustration, here the impact of implementing energy-efficient lighting and motors in the Mexican border states' maquiladoras was determined to be substantial. Without such energy efficiency measures, electricity consumption for these industries is predicted to rise by 64% from 2001 to 2010, but if these measures are implemented on a gradual basis over the same time period, electricity consumption is forecast to rise by only 36%. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.