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Utilities in Italy
The main utilities, though officially privatised now, are still largely in the hands of the old state monopolies: Telecom Italia for the phones, ENEL for electricity, SIG or Italgas for gas, and ACEA for mains water; you’ll find them in the Yellow Pages (Le Pagine Gialle). To register for your utilities you’ll need to produce your proof or residency, a photocopy of your passport and your bank details.
Telephone
The national Italian telephone company, Telecom Italia is responsible for providing the land line telephone service in Italy. It offers telephone and Internet services.
To get a Land Line Telephone Service with Telecom Italia contact their service centre on 187 or apply via the Telecom Italia website (in Italian).
To sign up, provide:
Full name
Fiscal code (codice fiscale)
Address where the line needs to be installed
A phone number where you can be reached easily
The type of service required (analogue, ISDN or ADSL)
The number of extensions required
Any additional telephone service required, such as a special tariff package
The model (name, colour) of telephone
Whether or not your name should appear in the local phone book
Telecom Italia will then assign a new telephone number and an appointment will be set up with a technician to come and connect the telephone (this may take anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks).
Electricity
ENEL sends out estimated electricity bills (bollette) every two months. The meters are read twice each year and adjusted bills sent out. The bill will bear your account number (numero utente), the amount due (importo) and the date it should be paid by (scadenza). It will also have details of the bank account (conto corrente) to which you should make payment.
When puchasing your home in Italy, try to get the estate agent transfer the supply into your name. This will save a great deal of tedious queuing at the ENEL office. They’ll ask you for a copy of the previous owner’s paid bill, so ensure you get this.
Electricity supply in Italy can be very unpredictable. The power supply varies between 1.5kw and 6kw, though businesses get a higher wattage. Most Italian homes run on 3kw, which means if you put too much strain on the supply you’ll blow a fuse.
There are ways to protect yourself: you can pay to have your supply upgraded to the maximum 6kw; and you can hire an electrician to install an uninterruptible power supply and a surge protector, even a backup generator so spikes in supply don’t blow up TVs and computers.
Ensure that if you are having electrical work done that it is carried out by a fully qualified Italian electrician (elettricista), registered at the local Chamber of Commerce (La Camera di Commercio) as the work will be checked by an ENEL inspector.
Gas
If you buy your home in Italy in a town, you’re almost certain to be connected to the mains gas. Bills are issued every two months. Like all power sources in Italy, gas is expensive, though less so than electricity.
If you live in the countryside it’s highly likely you won’t be on the mains so your gas supply will be from a bombolone, a huge tank sited outside the house (at least 25m away for obvious reasons) or underground (safer and less ugly).
This is a cheaper option than getting your home connected to the mains, and it’s cheaper than powering it with electricity.
A cheaper alternative to fit (though more expensive to run) is to use bomboli, the smaller gas canisters, mainly used for cooking though also for heating. If you are siting a canister outside, ensure that you use propane (which doesn’t change state with changes in temperature); butane meanwhile is for internal use only.
Water
The water supply is controlled by the local commune and may be rationed to a certain number of litres per month.
The commune agrees a price for water with ACEA (Azienda Comunale Energia e Ambiente); this can vary with rainfall, the size of reserves and how much water you use. You should have a water meter (contatore).
If you live in a rural area in the south, you must have a storage tank which you can top up when the water supply is on or which can be filled by tanker.
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