9511 Paying Enel bills

Take cash plus bill to your local tobacconist/lotto shop and pay using their lotto machine. Easy and simple and the staff seem to be grateful for the business ( unlike the other alternative - the post office.)

[quote=Helen Warner;89106]Hello again everyone. We managed to close our Italian bank account this week while visiting and now have the task of attempting to pay Enel by some other means other than direct debit. Enel have emailed us to say that they are no longer accepting credit cards on line from abroad so it seems the only other option is to pay by electronic transfer. [B]To do this our bank here in England (Barclays) require the following information: Name and address of Enel's Bank, their IBAN No. (27 digits) and SWIFTBIC (8 digits). Does anyone know this information please? [/B] We've had no reply from Enel asking for this.
Marco very kindly gave some account numbers on 5 March but unfortunately Barclays have said these are not acceptable. Our house in Italy is in hilltop villageof Tereglio (above Fornoli/Bagni di Lucca). Do you think Enel have different bank addresses depending where they supply electricity? We won't be going out to Italy again this year, unfortunately, so it is very important we pay by electronic transfer before they cut off our electricity (our guests won't be very happy if they do).
Please could someone reply as your help would be much appreciated.
Thank you so much.[/quote]

It states on the bills that alternatively payments can be made using the following data:

[B]BANCA INTESA S.P.A. - Sede di Roma - Via del Corso, 226 - 00187 Roma -
c/c 051014470177 - IBAN: IT18Y0306905020051014470177[/B]

They don't provide a SWIFT No.

I think the bank should be able to find the SWIFT no.

Helen,
What about the advice given to you in is this thread??
[URL]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/cost-living-utility-services/9314-enel-query.html[/URL]

Evidently, it seems as though you're not there [and won't be, any time soon] but you're renting your place out? If so, can we assume you've got someone looking after your property? Why not just get the bills sent to this person and arrange for them to pay at the local Post Office?

[quote=elliven;89137]Take cash plus bill to your local tobacconist/lotto shop and pay using their lotto machine. Easy and simple and the staff seem to be grateful for the business ( unlike the other alternative - the post office.)[/quote]

Thank you for info. but we don't live in Italy - only manage to visit once a year.

[quote=Carole B;89139]It states on the bills that alternatively payments can be made using the following data:

[B]BANCA INTESA S.P.A. - Sede di Roma - Via del Corso, 226 - 00187 Roma -
c/c 051014470177 - IBAN: IT18Y0306905020051014470177[/B]

They don't provide a SWIFT No.

I think the bank should be able to find the SWIFT no.[/quote]

Thank you for help. I'll attempt to research for a SWIFTBIC before going to my bank in England as they do huff and puff if you don't go armed with all the info. I had the same problem doing electronic transfers for Gesam (gas bills) - bank here couldn't
get a SWIFTBIC but I managed to communicate with Gesam via email and they provided it.

[quote=derekL;89141]Helen,
What about the advice given to you in is this thread??
[URL]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/cost-living-utility-services/9314-enel-query.html[/URL]

Evidently, it seems as though you're not there [and won't be, any time soon] but you're renting your place out? If so, can we assume you've got someone looking after your property? Why not just get the bills sent to this person and arrange for them to pay at the local Post Office?[/quote]

Thank you. I had read all the posts in the thread you suggested but didn't find anything that actually helped me. We have a lady in the village who does the cleaning and washing and her husband does any maintenance. She also pays our ICI, Tarsu, Water, boiler service, etc. for us but the only way we can pay them both is by sending Euros in the post. We are reluctant to ask them to pay the electricity bills as well because it means sending even more Euros by post and we feel they do more than enough for us already. We do pay gas bills by electronic transfer and also insurance so to be able to pay the Enel bills this way as well would be icing on the cake even though it costs 20 GBP every time. I had hoped that all these people who have had difficulty on this forum paying by credit card would be able to provide Enel's bank details as they have probably had to resort to paying that way.
Everyone is so kind on this forum. I just hope that one day I will be able to help someone else but I think that day is a long way off.

Bank Intesa has a office in London they may be able to help.

[quote=Helen Warner;89144]Thank you for help. I'll attempt to research for a SWIFTBIC before going to my bank in England as they do huff and puff if you don't go armed with all the info. I had the same problem doing electronic transfers for Gesam (gas bills) - bank here couldn't
get a SWIFTBIC but I managed to communicate with Gesam via email and they provided it.[/quote]

The SWIFT BIC for the branch mentioned by CaroleB is BCITITMM700 (go [url=http://www.swift.com/biconline/index.cfm]here[/url] and paste that code into the "BIC Search" for confirmation if required - it will then show you the Bank & branch address).

[I]caveat - I know nothing about the ENEL account or paying them by this method; I'm just showing you what the SWIFT BIC code for that particular bank is. However, as long as the Bank info is correct, the SWIFT BIC will be too.[/I]

[quote=pigro;89151]The SWIFT BIC for the branch mentioned by CaroleB is BCITITMM700 (go [url=http://www.swift.com/biconline/index.cfm]here[/url] and paste that code into the "BIC Search" for confirmation if required - it will then show you the Bank & branch address).

[I]caveat - I know nothing about the ENEL account or paying them by this method; I'm just showing you what the SWIFT BIC code for that particular bank is. However, as long as the Bank info is correct, the SWIFT BIC will be too.[/I][/quote]

Thanks for that link 'pigro' it could come in useful. I have an Enel account and got the other info from my latest bill. But there was no mention of the SWIFT number.

[quote=Helen Warner;89106] Do you think Enel have different bank addresses depending where they supply electricity? .[/quote]

I think they do. When I go online to pay with my bank the bank bill payment website offers me a few different Enel accounts and I have to pick the one that matches my account.

I thought the law had been changed and Italians now had to use Swifts etc :veryconfused:

This is now quite worrying as I am reluctant to do an electronic transfer to the bank in Rome that Carole B kindly suggested as the money may never reach the Enel bank that we should be using. I have looked at our bills and there is nothing on there about alternative ways to pay, presumably because we have been doing direct debits. As Enel haven't replied to 3 emails I've sent asking for bank details I think I will write an ordinary letter and post it. The emails I sent were in English as my Italian is very poor so that may explain why they've ignored them or thrown them away. Can anyone translate into Italian for me words to the effect that - "Our bank account is now closed so we will no longer be paying by direct debit. Please can you provide your Bank name and address, IBAN No. and SWIFTBIC so that we can pay by Electronic Transfer". Thank you. Unless, of course, there is anyone on the forum who has a house near us - Tereglio (10 kms from Fornoli/Bagni di Lucca) who knows Enel's bank details. I would presume it is Lucca.
Sorry to keep banging on about this - you must all be fed up with me but I must get this problem sorted. Thanks again.

Helen, you could be right not to trust sending it to the IBAN no. I provided, though it [I]does[/I] say it's ENEL Headquarters and says to send payments there.

I think we are all very aware of how good the Italians are at 'losing/misplacing' things or directing OUR money to the wrong accounts... Bet they could do a good job if they had to rearrabge the deckchairs on the Titanic though...:yes:

Sorry, Helen. I could have had the information you are seeking as I am in the same area; however, we pay by direct debit and our invoices are in the hands of our geometra at Fornoli. We are going to Bagni next week and I will try to find out details, only problem.... we are not connected to Internet there, so it may take some time for me to get in touch with you.

Does anybody in your commune speak English? I bet they know the account to pay to.

Hate to say it,but the best option might be to maintain a bank account in Italy and pay by direct debit.Were there specific issues that drove you to close the existing account ? ( bank charges are troublesome but not a lot money in the scheme of things )

[quote=Helen Warner;89145]Thank you. I had read all the posts in the thread you suggested but didn't find anything that actually helped me. We have a lady in the village who does the cleaning and washing and her husband does any maintenance. She also pays our ICI, Tarsu, Water, boiler service, etc. for us but the only way we can pay them both is by sending Euros in the post. We are reluctant to ask them to pay the electricity bills as well because it means sending even more Euros by post and we feel they do more than enough for us already. We do pay gas bills by electronic transfer and also insurance so to be able to pay the Enel bills this way as well would be icing on the cake even though it costs 20 GBP every time. I had hoped that all these people who have had difficulty on this forum paying by credit card would be able to provide Enel's bank details as they have probably had to resort to paying that way.
Everyone is so kind on this forum. I just hope that one day I will be able to help someone else but I think that day is a long way off.[/quote]

Helen look at this site [url=http://www.poste.it/bancoposta/cartedipagamento/postepay.shtml]Poste Italiane - Postepay[/url]

Perhaps it's an answer to your problem. Worth investigating?? One of your "helpers" could be the named owner of the card and you could pay money into this post office scheme so that they pay all your bills. Think the max allowed is 2000 euros. The money can be transfered from UK. I haven't used it. Has anyone reading the Forum any experience of this system? It seems a possible solution for those only in Italy occasionally. One has to go to ones local Post Office to register taking Passport/Carta d'Identita and Codice Fiscali.

[quote=Helen Warner;89144] I'll attempt to research for a SWIFTBIC .[/quote]

Hi Helen

We have a house in Bagni di Lucca, near the church of San Pietro a Corsena.

Anyway, here are the details we managed to wring out of ENEL for foreign direct debit payments, including the elusive SWIFT code:

IBAN: IT85J0300201015000001822152;
BIC/SWIFT: BROMITR1T28

As you mentioned, the catch with this is that you'll have to pay your bank a fee. A paper bankers' draft is cheaper - last time round, as a stopgap, we got our bank (FirstDirect) to post one of these direct to ENEL in Rome - Enel Distribuzione SpA, 00198 Roma, via Ombrone 2. You need to get them to quote your account number. But the payment did get credited OK.

What we've done now, though, is to register for automatic payments via credit card - ie direct debits via a credit card.

To do this:

1) Go to the ENEL site...([url]https://www.enel.it/sportello_online/elettricita/servizi/html/default.asp?funz=A01[/url])...

2) Login (or register if you haven't already)

3) Navigate to La Tua Bolletta, then Paga La Bolletta

4) Click option 3, "tramite addebito sulla tua carta di credito"

Then you print off and return (by post) the request form.

I have to say that I haven't yet discovered if this has all been set up OK - I haven't had my next bill yet. But worth a try, maybe?

Mike Johnson

[quote=Gala Placidia;89204]Sorry, Helen. I could have had the information you are seeking as I am in the same area; however, we pay by direct debit and our invoices are in the hands of our geometra at Fornoli. We are going to Bagni next week and I will try to find out details, only problem.... we are not connected to Internet there, so it may take some time for me to get in touch with you.[/quote]

Thank you so much. This could be a real breakthrough for us and I would be so grateful if you would be able to help.
Cheers - Helen

[quote=NickZ;89227]Does anybody in your commune speak English? I bet they know the account to pay to.[/quote]

Tereglio is 100 per cent Italian and being up there is like going back in time - one of the reasons we bought the house (plus the stunning views) - no English spoken which is great apart from when you come up with a problem like this.

[quote=Lakeside;89240]Hate to say it,but the best option might be to maintain a bank account in Italy and pay by direct debit.Were there specific issues that drove you to close the existing account ? ( bank charges are troublesome but not a lot money in the scheme of things )[/quote]

After 5 years of having an Italian bank whose only use was to pay this one Enel direct debit we decided to close it. We couldn't transfer money into it from the UK, couldn't get internet banking (it wouldn't accept our password), the bank card didn't work and needless to say with our poor Italian we didn't understand the 5/6 pages of bank statements which arrived twice yearly littered with what appeared to be deductions, with no balance at the end so we never knew how much we had in there. It meant going into the bank on our once a year visit to physically pay Euros in and check what we had in there. I could go on but fear you would die of boredom reading it.

[quote=johnsm13;89270]Hi Helen

We have a house in Bagni di Lucca, near the church of San Pietro a Corsena.

Anyway, here are the details we managed to wring out of ENEL for foreign direct debit payments, including the elusive SWIFT code:

IBAN: IT85J0300201015000001822152;
BIC/SWIFT: BROMITR1T28

As you mentioned, the catch with this is that you'll have to pay your bank a fee. A paper bankers' draft is cheaper - last time round, as a stopgap, we got our bank (FirstDirect) to post one of these direct to ENEL in Rome - Enel Distribuzione SpA, 00198 Roma, via Ombrone 2. You need to get them to quote your account number. But the payment did get credited OK.

What we've done now, though, is to register for automatic payments via credit card - ie direct debits via a credit card.

To do this:

1) Go to the ENEL site...([url]https://www.enel.it/sportello_online/elettricita/servizi/html/default.asp?funz=A01[/url])...

2) Login (or register if you haven't already)

3) Navigate to La Tua Bolletta, then Paga La Bolletta

4) Click option 3, "tramite addebito sulla tua carta di credito"

Then you print off and return (by post) the request form.

I have to say that I haven't yet discovered if this has all been set up OK - I haven't had my next bill yet. But worth a try, maybe?

Mike Johnson[/quote]
Hi Mike

Thank you for taking the trouble to provide all this information. I will go to the Enel website later today (when I have the strength) and see what happens. Enel did say, however, in an email to me that they no longer accept credit cards from abroad so it may well be back to the electronic transfer. Helen

To : johnsm 13 :

Hi Mike

Do you have the name and address of the bank that you provided the IBAN and BIC/SWIFT for please. Thank you.

Helen

Thought you might like to know that Enel have finally given me the information I need for paying by electronic transfer saying Le coordinate bancarie per effecttuare pagamenti dall'estero:
abi 05040 cab 02800 BANCA ANTONIANA POP. VENETA
C/C 00000010004Q - IBAN IT08D0504002800
00000010004Q - BIC/SWIFT ANTBIT2P625 - CIN D

They haven't provided an address but with all this information I should be able to find it out on the web.
Have posted this info just in case it helps anyone else in our area who is unable to pay by credit card.

just in case you didn't realise, you can get the address of the branch with that SWIFT from the same website I linked to earlier. The search tool works both ways - given a bank name & location, it will return the SWIFT code; given the SWIFT, it will return the branch details.

can anyone help me? how do i go about transfering the enel and water account from the previous owners to myself? the last thing i want is no power and water. just in case, i shall take a generator with me.

Hi Nickbass

Your query has been tagged onto the end of my query regarding how to find out about paying by electronic transfer and may not been seen. It might be better to start a new post of your own. I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question but I'm sure others on this forum will be able to offer help.

Helen

Sorry for being l8 to the deb8... I only just joined the forums.
Presumably you closed your Italian account because it cost a fortune without being much help.
The account I have costs €5 per month (free for average balances of €3,500), 36 cash withdrawals from any ATM and all banking transactions included, with internet or English speaking telephone service and the use of all Post Offices and Banca Intesa in Italy.

The cool thing is that if you set up direct debits for utilities there is a security feature in case the bill comes in much higher than expected, you put the direct debit "in suspense".
This makes it easier for people who are not in Italy whenever the bills come but also; if there are no worries the payment goes through with no effort, if there is a problem you get to stop the payment before calling the utility (which is unlikely to be a pleasant experience but better done before the money is paid than after!).

After a year of paying by a direct debit from our Nationwide CC, in May ENEL decided to send a mail saying payment had not been made. This started me on a hunt for an economical way of paying ENEL bills. SWIFT not being particularly economical for small payments. In the meantime you can either pay bills as they arrive or debit them to an italian issued card but having a bank account just for this purpose is a bit much.

We spoke to ENEL. They said it's all happened when they changed the card processor on their website and it'll be fixed "soon" chissa'!

The following is a bit fiddly but does work if like us you're not always at the property so your bills are small or quite variable.

- Just before you next go to your italian property, register an account at Poste.it and request that the activation code be sent to your italian property (they pretend to send abroad but don't count on it). Once issued, you have ten days to go back online and put in the activation code and your account is fully set up.
- When you get to Italy pop to your post office and get a CartaPostePay pre-paid debit card, it costs a couple of euros for the card, they give it to you immediately. You can add cash via your credit card / cash at the post office at that time.
- When you receive your ENEL bill, you can go to your ENEL account on line and pay using your CartaPostePay without charge
- Topping up is easy to do when you're in Italy but what happens when you're back in the UK - this bit's a little fiddly to setup but does work
- Go to paypal.it and register yourself as a new account, if you've an existing paypal account you'll need to use a different email address otherwise it'll not work. Paypal.it allow you to associate your CartaPostePay to your paypal account so do this. You can then "send" money to your Paypal account as you can do now - you can either send a dummy invoice to yourself or force a payment and Paypal will happily allow you to pay with a UK credit / debit card. The funds turn up in your Paypal.it account in minutes and you then instruct Paypal.it to send those onto your CartaPostePay account. This arrives in about two days. Commission is charged by Paypal and the PostOffice throughout this process but overall it cost be about 3 Euros to put 100 euros onto my PostePay account which is far less than the £25 my bank wanted for each and every SWIFT payment.

It's a little fiddly first time but is cheaper, faster, you've more control because when you pay you can see your ENEL account updated immediately and no visits to the bank. Hope it's not too confusing if someone wants me to explain the points again or in more detail, let me know

It's been mentioned that ENEL are no longer accepting credit card payments from abroad. Does anyone know if that applies to debit cards awell.

Would you believe I've just returned from Italy having cancelled the direct debits for ENEL and AQP - water !!

Thanks
Martin

In danger of advertising again (because i work for the bank)
Our current account offers the option of putting a direct debit in suspense if you disagree with the bill.
Direct debits are included in the monthly charge of €5 as are:
bank transfers of Euros in the Eurozone,
withdrawals from all ATM's in Italy (with a daily limit of €500),
telephone banking,
internet banking,
prepaid VISA,
debit card transactions,
SMS notifications of account movements,
SMS account balance and
to avoid unexpected overdrafts an SMS whenever you go below your own defined limit.

Hi Tim

What is the name of your account?
And did you set it up in Italy?

Sounds great!

Catherine

The bank is Banca Mediolanum
The two most popular types of account are:
Easy Riflex
[url]https://www.bancamediolanum.it/s-srvb/1424_11835.html?pageID=11781&pageTitle=Conti%20Linea%20Riflex&pageHREF=%2Fs-srvb%2F1424_11781.html[/url]

and EasyStandard
[url]https://www.bancamediolanum.it/s-srvb/1424_4581.html[/url]

this latter once the account is activated (which I can explain separately) we pay 4.25% interest on amounts over €3,000 (so the 1st €3,000 gets 0.70% and anything above that gets gross 4.25% (about 3.1% net).
If only it were all simple!
If you need further information please email me as below.
Thank you
Tim

I've got an account with Banca Mediolanum & have found my banking life has been so much easier as they send you texts every time money goes from your acccount & cos I can checke everything online I always know how much money I have (or haven't ) got- much better than 1 statement every 3 months as with my previous bank. Also if you need to call them for anything & you are having difficulty explaining whatever it is (my banking terms are not yet fluent) they will usually get you an English speaker

Is this bank found all over Italy?

For the past year,i have paid my ENEL bills by direct debit from an Italian bank account.Recently,i closed the account and registered with ENEL to pay by them taking the amount of the bill directly from my credit card.When the last bill was due,they took 1 euro only,my bank in the u.k said this was to see if the details they had from me worked and they would take the rest later,usually one week later.One month has now elapsed and no more money has been taken.Has this happened to anyone else and if so,what was the outcome?

[quote=alma;92749]Is this bank found all over Italy?[/quote]

The bank is mainly on the phone and the internet, which is why the costs are lower. All cash deposits are via the Post Office or Banca Intesa.

There are offices to meet 'Family Bankers' and to pay in cheques:
[url]https://www.bancamediolanum.it/i-corp/ilFamilyBanker_2748.html[/url]

English is not guaranteed (I am the only mother tongue English speaker and I am based in Le Marche).