Electricity Prices

[italianirish]

Hi all,

I just got another electric bill. It was for €50.60. I was only in Maiera for two weeks in September. I just wanted to know if everybody else had such high bills. Our bills are always around this price. It's a lot for two weeks.

Michael

[annetigano]

You have to be cunning with the electric usage now as there are three tiers of pricing for non residents depending on time of day. Have not got the specifics to hand but basically the most expensive time is Monday-Friday until 7pm. Then there is a mid price from 7-11pm and then cheaper from 11pm till early morning. I think Saturdays are mid price and Sundays and public holidays are cheap rate. So you should heat your water at night and do your washing on a Sunday!!!!! Also don't use an electric kettle - get yourself a whistling kettle to boil on the hob. If you download your ENEL bill it does tell you the hours. Also check that they haven't estimated (stimata) your bill, even if you have a remote-read meter. Ours are quite often estimated but it all sorts itself out in the end. We usually pay about €40 for a month's stay.


Just found the details which are:
F1(ore di punta): dalle ore 8.00 alle ore 19.00 dal lunedì al venerdì;

F2(ore intermedie): dalle ore 7.00 alle ore 8.00 e dalle ore 19.00 alle ore 23.00 dal lunedì al venerdì e dalle ore 7.00 alle ore 23.00 del sabato;

F3(ore fuori punta): dalle ore 00.00 alle ore 7.00 e dalle ore 23.00 alle ore24.00 dal lunedì al sabato e tutte le ore della domenica e dei giorni 1 e 6 gennaio; lunedì dell'Angelo;
25 aprile; 1 maggio; 2 giugno; 15 agosto; 1 novembre; 8, 25 e 26 dicembre.

Hope this helps

[uakelly]

Hi Anne and Michael,

Michael, we cannot fathom where our electricity bills come from! When we are not there for two months they can be as much as when we are there etc etc also when I tried to read the last one in detail. even though it was for Sept Oct, the charges seemed to be for Aug Sept. What did someone say recently about that one third about Italy which just gets you!!!! We have given up trying to make sense of them (the bills that is). Our agent pays them for us. We get two months free - we think to catch up!!! but we do find that over the year the electricity is very expensive. We have taken note of the 3 tariffs as shown on our bill, but when my brother hired a newly renovated apt in summer his new metre showed the 3 readings!!! So do you need that? Out of interest how do you pay your bills yourself from NI. Enel wont take any of our credit cards. We used to pay by DD but we lost that card and had to cancel it and all its dealings.

Hope you had a lovely time in Sept. Anne, will be in touch.

[MART]

Hi

I had a bit of messing about in the early stages when it came to paying our ENEL billls.

Eventually I wrote to ENEL [ in English ] requesting their account number along with the relevant SWIFT/BIC number so that I could pay direct from my bank in the UK.

This was provided and if need be I pay direct from my bank [ Halifax charge £9 to do this yourself on line ], no need to set up a direct debit just an international payment each time you need to pay, all simple really.

So when I`m across in San Nicola I pay myself at the Post Office or if not through my own bank.

At one stage we received an estimated bill which we paid of 200 euros plus, ENEL did repay this directly into my English account , so it does sort itself out in the end.

I know £9 [ £20 if transaction done in the bank itself ]seems a lot to pay a bill but it saves me opening an Italian bank account with all its charges but guarantees [ touch wood ! ] my electricity when I am across there [ we had been getting cut off on occasions ! ].

Hope this helps.

Martin

[italianirish]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the help. We used to pay our electric bills through our bank account in Italy. We closed our account in September. The bank charges were about €150.00 a year. We now pay the bills through an agency. We also pay €200 a year for water because the water company can't be bothered to read the meter. We only use about 4 or 5 units a year. The joys of Italy.

Michael

[falcon]

Originally Posted by italianirish

Hi all,

I just got another electric bill. It was for €50.60. I was only in Maiera for two weeks in September. I just wanted to know if everybody else had such high bills. Our bills are always around this price. It's a lot for two weeks.

Michael

Well I now consider myself an expert on Enel bills but have to admit I used to be just as amazed as all to find I am billed for not being there!
It is actually quite simple; they bill for one month based on the smart meter reading but ESTIMATE the last month based on a full previous year. Hence the queries. Actually I had to do a full reconciliation at one point as I actually believed I was being taken for a ride. It turns out they were actually quite right and after the exercise it discovered that I had losses through the system (difficult to say whether it was my internal wiring or theirs) amounting to about 15kWh a month. That does not sound a lot but it mounts up. Since we are in a block of 4, and wiring was going through other properties, I decided to pay my £200 to have the meter put in my property. Now it is all fine and since I have had solar panels put in, it is now bliss knowing that I am using that white disc in the sky.

Whether you are aresident or not, it will pay anybody with a south to south west facing roof to install these things as they pay handsomely through reduced bill but mostly through the govt. incentive which ranks as the best in EU at about 42c a kWh produced! In fact for those not resident it pays even more.

Francis