Rates, Water, Gas, Electricity, Telephone

A Well

Having a well on your property is a real bonus but installing one can be expensive, up to € 8,000.  Drilling a well costs about € 80 per metre.  The cost depends on the depth, what they have to drill through, and what size the bore hole needs to be. 

Gas

If you are lucky and live in, or close to a village or town you can connect to the mains gas system, metano as it's called, which is quite inexpensive, otherwise you will have to use bottled gas.

GPL (known as LPG in Britain) can either be a stored in a tank in the garen or you can use the smaller exchangeable cylinders, like we do.  There are two types; Propane and Butane.  Propane burns hotter and freezes at a much lower temperature but is more expensive.  Garden storage tanks can be above ground, which is rather unsightly, or underground, which was introduced about five years ago and is far more common these days.  Although the supplier will charge you next to nothing for providing and installing the tank it will need a Fire Brigade inspection after installation, for which there is a charge of about €100.  This is organised by the installer.  The small exchangeable cylinders can be neatly tucked against the outside of the house and don't need an inspection after installation.  They must be fitted by a qualified engineer though.

Gas water heaters

If you have a gas water heater it must be inspected every year and you must keep the certificate.  Over a certain size they must be checked by a qualified engineer every year and a libretto (log book) kept to prove it, or the fines are heavy.

Electricity Rates (2003)

The electricity supply in Italy is 220 volts.

Domestic use

Installation fees: €50,61 + 10% VAT

Guarantee for a 3kw installation €15,49 (reimbursed if you pay by direct debit)

Stamp fees €10,33

Consumption prices

For residents there is a €1,72 fixed charge per month then different rates of €6,99 then €8,92 then €15,87 etc, depending on how much you consume.

For non residents there is a €6,49 fixed charge per month then €0,16 per consumed unit.

On the basis of your consumption a fixed, bi-monthly rate is established.  At the end of the contract year you get money back or have to pay some more, depending on how much electricity you used.  You can read the meter and give the reading to an answering machine, or to their website (www.enel.it), if you want to pay exactly what you consume every 2 months.