Are you moving to Italy? Here is what you need to do for electricity and gas

You recently moved to Italy and don’t know how to activate the electricity and gas meters? In this article you can find all the information you need to turn on electricity and gas quickly and easily.

What do you do when you move to a new home?

If you recently purchased a new home in Italy, the first thing you need to do is check the meters' situation:

1. SUBENTRO: If the meters are present but are no longer active
2. VOLTURA: If the meters are present and active with a regular contract; in this case you just need to change the name of the contract owner
3. ALLACCIAMENTO: If there are no electricity and gas meters in the apartment, you will need to make a new connection, that is ask for a new meter

More informations If you need more informations about subentro, voltura and allacciamento, check our dictionary or watch our video:

Meter off: subentro

If you have just moved to a new home in italy and the meters are present but are not active, you will need to contact the supplier and ask for the subentro, that is the reactivation of the electricity and gas meters. The first thing you need to do is ask if the meters have been closed off on a regular cancellation or have been suspended because the previous tenant had not paid the bills.

If the meters has been closed off on a regular way, you can call the number 06 9480 8089 and ask for a new electricity and gas contract. What do you need? Let’s see it!

• What documents do you need for the subentro?
• Your personal data: name, surname, a valid document and a phone number
• Address of your new house in Italy
• POD code for electricity and PDR code for gas
• Maximum power required in kW (just for electricity)
• Nice to have: Email address for the shipping of the bills and bank account number

For re-activating the meter you need to present the documents to your supplier and in maximum 7 working days you will have a new electricity contract and in maximum 12 working days a gas contract. The cost for activating a meter is:

1. Electricity:
   1. 27,03€ for “oneri amministrativi” for the local distribution company (is the same cost for every supplier)
   2. 20-30€ for “oneri di gestione” (are different for every supplier)
   3. Possible security deposit
2. Gas:
   1. 30€ for “costi amministrativi” if the meter has a class G6 or lower; 45€ if the meter is more powerful
   2. cost for the practice management (are different for every suppllier)

Remember...Remember that the electricity meter is reactivated remotely, while for the gas is sent a technician to remove the seals of the meter.

The previous tenant did not pay the electricity and gas bills?

In the event of a non-payment for a certain period of time, the meter is suspended: the gas meter is plunged with a seal to interrupt the flow of methane while the electricity meter is interrupted remotly. The customer can not in any way tamper with or take off the seal, as it may incur a penalty for criminal offense. If the new tenant is in no way linked to the defaulting client, he is not required to pay the other's debt. The point is that you will need to contact the supplier company with which the contract is active and ask them to reactivate it with a turn. Sometimes the seller asks the client to prove he is not a family member of the previous morose tenant. If you don't know who is your supplier, call the Sportello del Consumatore dell'Autorità 800.166.654 or download the document you need to make a request and understand who your supplier is.

Active meter: voltura

Are you moving to Italy and the meters of your new flat are active? If the electricity and gas meters are active with a regular contract, you just need to change the name of meter’s owner and put yours. The change of bills holder takes place in about one week if you want to stay with the same offer as the previous owner and in about two months if you prefer to change electricity and gas offers. If you need more info for the voltura, call the number 06 9480 8089 and prepare the necessary documents.

• What documents do you need for the voltura?
• Your personal data: name, surname, a valid document and a phone number
• Personal data of the previous tenant
• Address of your house in Italy
• POD code for electricity and PDR code for gas (you can find that in the bills)
• Maximum power required in kW (just for electricity)
• Nice to have: Email address for the shipping of the bills and bank account number

The cost for electricity and gas voltura in Italy is:

• 27€ for “oneri amministrativi” (is the same cost for every supplier)
• 20-30€ for “oneri di gestione” (are different for every supplier)
• Possible security deposit

Remember… The change of the name on the contract doesn’t provide any technical intervention on the meter or the interruption of the supply of electricity and gas.

Is the turn blocked for unpaid bills?

What if the previous owner did not pay all the bills of electricity and gas? Can the supplier ask you to pay off the debt? No, because in this case the new user has no obligation towards the supplier regarding the balance of debts left by the previous tenant. Voltura in case of morosity is however complicated because it doesn't have a precise legal definition and there is no termination of the contract at any time. What to do then? We recommend that you request a re-activation of the counters (if the previous tenant intends to cancel and ask for the closure) or if you want to do the turn, ask the supplier for a document where you can testify that there is no family relationship with the old user and you are not responsible for missed payments. However, in spite of the document, it may happen that the supplier doesn't want to activate the counters: in this case, you can turn to a new sales company, but only after the current vendor has informed the distributor of his refusing to change the name of the contract.

You don’t have a meter: allacciamento

If you want to connect your home to the electricity or gas network you can contact an electricity and gas supplier or directly to the local distributor.

• In case you contact the supplier, after the contract for supply of electricity and gas, the supplier is obliged to submit the connection request to the distributor. You can call the number 06 9480 8089 for electricity and connection request.

• What documents do you need for the allacciamento?
• Your personal data: name, surname, a valid document and a phone number
• Address of your new house in Italy
• Maximum power required in kW(just for electricity)
• The use for which gas is required: for example for cooking foods, hot water production, only heating or heating, cooking and hot water
• Building concession number (in Italian "numero di concessione edilizia")
• Nice to have: Email address for the shipping of the bills and bank account number

Electricity connection

If you have submitted the request to the supplier, the latter will send it to the local distributor within 2 working days. The distributor then, within 20 working days of the request, must send to the customer the quote, which by law must contain certain elements to ensure clarity and transparency: traceability data to identify the request, the time needed to complete the operation, the total costs, the procedures necessary to allow the execution of the work, the duration of the quote (minimum 3 months).

Once the customer has accepted the quote or pays the intended contribution, the distributor must make the connection by:

• 15 working days from the date of receipt of the acceptance if it’s simple work (easy operations such as the installation of the meter or the extension of a cable)
• 60 working days in case of complex work (structural interventions such as the passage of cables under ground or inside the walls)

In Italy, the electricity connection has these costs:

1. Distance price up to 200 meters: 184,48€
2. Power price: 69,36€ per kilowatt of meter power (for example, if you need a 3 kW power you have to multiply the 69,36 per three)
3. Fix price: 27,03€ and it must always be paid by the customer to cover administrative costs incurred by the local distributor to make the connection
4. The supplier may ask for an extra cost for handling the procedure

Gas connection

Even in the case of gas connection, the local distribution company must send the quote to the customer, within a 15 working day for simple jobs, or 30 days if complex.The elements to be included in the quote are mainly the identification and traceability codes of the request, the type of user in question, the type of meter to be installed, the time and costs of the connection operation, the procedures necessary to enable the execution of the works, and the term of validity of the quote.

The cost of connecting to the gas network varies from area to area and it’s determined according to what the distributor and the local authority have decided. If the customer accepts the quote, the distributor must make the connection by:

• 10 working days from the date of receipt of acceptance for simple job (with meter to G25 class)
• 60 working days in case of complex work

Remember... The quote for electricity and gas connection is free and the customer can accept or reject it.

Do not you reside in Italy or do you have not an Italian bank account?

If you don't reside in Italy, don't worry because you can ask for an electricity and gas contract: for the gas contract nothing changes but let's see what happen for electricity. For electricity exist two tipe of contract, resident and not residence: if you match the second case, annually you will pay somewhat higher fees and charges than customers resident in Italy.

Most suppliers require an Italian bank account to pay electricity and gas bills: so we advise you to open a bank account in Italy to facilitate the payment of the invoices. If you don't have an Italian bank account, call the number 06 9480 8089 and we will help you to find the best supplier for you.

Let's learn a little Italian!

To help you understand the procedures for activating electricity and gas meters, we have prepared a small dictionary with the technical terms you will find more frequently:

1. Allacciamento: when electricity and gas meters are not present in the house
2. Subentro: when electricity and gas meters are present but are not active
3. Voltura: when electricity and gas meters are present and active
4. POD (Point Of Delivery): it's a code that uniquely identifies your utilities for electricity supply. You can find it on a bill
5. PDR: it's a code that identifies your gas meter and you find it just on a bill
6. Morosità: is the situation when the previous tenant did not properly pay all the bills of electricity and gas
7. Potenza del contatore: it's the the maximum power required in kW. For elecricity you can choose it when you submit the contract: usually for a home user, the meter is 3 kW.