Pay Your Household Utility Bills in Italy
Bills normally arrive once every 2 months and you do not send off
a check to pay them but instead pay at the post office or have your
bank automatically pay them via a bonifico.
Most utility companies do not come out and read the meters. Instead
they estimate how much they believe you use and send you a bill for
that. This type of bill is called stimata which means estimate. Then,
once a year or twice they show up to read the meter and send you an
adjusted bill. If they have been estimating low this adjusted bill could
be very high.
ELECTRICITY
The company that handles electricity in Italy is ENEL. Electricity
in Italy is not like in the US where you can use as much as you need
and then just pay every month. Instead, here, you are allotted 3.0 kW.
If you use more than this at any one time your power will shut off.
That means no running of the washing machine and a hair dryer at the
same time. Because of this, looking for appliances with an A or A+ rating*
is even more important. You can increase your usage, to 4.5 or 6 which
works well but you do pay more per unit of measure.
GAS
Every area has their own company. You should ask your rental agent
or real estate agent who to contact for your area. There are different
kinds of gas as well. City gas is metano and is pretty reasonable. Most
of the bigger towns have this. Even though many towns have it, loads
of people never hooked up to the mains so they need to get gas tanks
(bombole) to use for cooking etc. When it runs out you go to the neighborhood
store that sells new ones and either bring one home or have them drop
one off. When you live outside of where there are gas lines you will
need to have a large bombola of gas.
WATER
Every area has their own water company. These bills only come once
or twice a year. If you live in an apartment building and have condominio
fees, water will be part of this. As with everything though, keep an
eye on the meter. The people who do the accounting for condominiums
are not always the brightest.
To set up a new account you will need to have a legal codice fiscale.
You can call and set up most things by phone. When you first get everything
set up you will not have residency yet but once you do, let all of the
companies know as you get a discount on the rates.
This list has been complied and intended for guidance only. It should
not be considered a substitute for individual professional legal advice.
Click here for a list of Notary
in Italy
