Lorna at Vicenza

Just had an Enel guy at the door offering new types of contract now that the utilities market is open to competition.

I've signed up for a different type of contract that should save me a fair bit for the next 24 months at least.

Apparently they are doing the rounds over the whole of Italy offering the new "small, medium or large" contracts so check out your last bill and see how many KW you use on average per month.

Info is also available on their website
http://www.enel.it/enelenergia/famig...eso/index.aspx


NB. new contract offers apply to residents with a 3KW supply.

Non residents and people with a higher supply will be charged an extra 9 Euro per month.

•Per i non residenti o per chi è titolare di un contratto di fornitura superiore a 3 kW sarà applicato un costo aggiuntivo di € 9/mese sul costo del pacchetto base.

Mr Posh

I looked at HERA and they seem Slightly cheaper...Lorna is there a way to work out what are the avarege monthly cost..

Lorna at Vicenza

If you look at your last bill it should say on it somehere how many kilowatts the bill is for.

Most bills come every two months so divide the watts and the price.

I wanted to go for the new "small" Enel package but it seems that I use more than 100 Kw per month so I had to go for the medium.

Enel are also trying to flog some gadget that you plug in - think it was called a re-phaser or something. It's supposed to stop the surge in electric every time you switch something on. If you don't get the big surge in power, you don't get the higher watts and higher bills. The man said it can reduce bills from 15 to 30% but it costs an initial 96 Euro so I left that.

indiebird

Hmmmm they came here about July time and I found them extremely rude and intimidating tbh. I try really hard with my Italian but I don't think the guys that came here had any patience whatsoever and I ended up telling them to go away!! I am presuming that if we did decide to change then we could get in touch with them.... it reminded me of a few years ago when the energy market was opened up in the UK, there were some really aggressive tactics used and on more than one occasion I signed up at the door, only to go inside and cancel straight away. Telecom italia are phoning alot again recently. Drives me mad. I tend to shout 'non siamo interessante, buona giornata/ serata' and slam the phone down. Not sure I'm a sales person's dream

Lorna at Vicenza

Oh Indie, thanks for unintentionally making me laugh. Please don't think I'm rude and laughing at you, but if you are telling all the telesales people and door to door callers that you are not 'interessante' - you are telling them that you are not interesting. That's the kind of mistake we all make in the early days.

You should be saying "non siamo interessATI" or if it's easier "non mi interessa !"

One day your Italian will be so good, a little mistake will make you laugh too. Sorry.

You can sign up to the new Enel stuff on the website too, you'll need your last enel bill infront of you. Count on me if you do ever need any help understanding it or anything.

indiebird

Well at least they probably have a good laugh at me then. Do you know that my so-called Italian 'friend' told me this (unless I misheard her -which is possible) but then I know that she didn't tell her own English husband many of the mistakes he made either in the early days cos she thought it 'was sweet, and her friends used to have a good laugh at him'. How can you trust someone who leaves you to make an idiot of yourself!!?? I can never see my italian being good at all. Even my own daughter corrects me!! Anyway, I will check out their website and come back to you if I need help (it is very likely)

PAT M

We have switched over to Edison for our electricity and gas as they are a bit cheaper than Enel and Teledue are so much cheaper for us compared to Telecom Italia for phone and internet, perhaps we were lucky with special offers at the time.

I loved "non siamo interessante", don't worry indiebird you'll learn by your funny mistakes, my Italian husband still calls the kettle the "kettle-on" and the kitchen the "chicken".

Lorna at Vicenza

Kitchen - chicken........... chicken - kitchen - kettle -on. Is that because we always say "put the kettle on." Funny, maybe because Italians never had kettles and never had a word for kettle. They used little metal pans / jugs with handles. Now in a few shops that sell kettles, they call them "bollitore d'acqua" ....... water boilers.

Edison is no longer cheaper than Enel by all accounts but until I have invoice proof of things I'm still a big sceptic. My gas account was by a company called Agos and the new Enel contracts are cheaper than theirs.

Special offers are great but i urge everybody to read the small print or to ask what prices are or what happens when the "12 month special offer" finishes. That's usually when you get ripped off.

indiebird

I brought my bollitore d'aqua in IKEA here. We went for a hob one as I just knew I wouldn't be able to have the kettle on, the iron on, the washing machine on and the oven on all together and I would (and do!!) forget on a regular basis and blow all the electric!! What do the italians say instead of 'put the kettle on' then? 'bolli l'aqua per il thé' or something? Hmmmm I don't think my italian is ever going to improve. I must have something in the brain that doesn't 'do' languages..... one thing I've noticed here is that many italians who speak English say 'in fact' when they are agreeing with you which we never do. Is this cos they are directly translating 'infatti' as 'in fact'? I do find all the theory interesting, it's just the practice that i seem to have problems with!!

chris120

Butta la pasta

Lorna at Vicenza

Indie - 'in fact' probably does come from infatti.
A lot of Italians also say "for me" (per me) when they mean - in my opinion or - if you ask me ...

dean milan

If you have a relatively new electrical system fitted ie; within the last five to eight years you do not need this so called "Gadget" as it is installed within all modern electrical components, for those that have older systems be carefull because although "Yes" it will reduce power surges it will only at best reduce them by 10-12% not an optomistic 15-30% reported. Any good saleman will tell you whatever to make his commision. Hope this will save some of you around a ton that can be better spent on good wine and salami

lindaf

Lorna - re people paying more for their bills if they aren't residents, how can I check that I am registered as a resident for all my suppliers?

I can see the codice fiscale number on all the bills - is this enough?

Lorna at Vicenza

Well thank goodness I said no to that gadget then.

96 Euro can buy a lot of wine

37100

The bill should say residente or non-residente somewhere. There is a site for comparing prices. I think it's Autority energia, but not sure. I can't use it because our's is supplied by the town company and they're not on it. Our comapany also does funerals. Always found that strange.