Paying electricity bills

You say ".......... We could have our bills paid by direct debit from our post office account (poste italiane) but we have been told that to do this you have to be a resident. ..." - you need to check this with the Post Office, as this would be the best way to manage the problem When I bought my holiday home I opened a bank account, solely for paying the Gas and electric bills by Direct Debit.  I know its an expensive way, because of the phenomenal standing charges that the bank levies, but it does give me peace of mind on the bill paying front. I top the account up whenever I'm over, and it has the added bonus of giving an emergency cash supply.  Also, it is sometimes useful to pay by cheque for some larger items bought in Italy, or if you have work done to the house.

We pay by direct debit through our bank account and we are not residents... We have been doing this for more than 5 years now. I don't think that there is any restriction regarding direct debit and we always do this providing that the payee accepts it. I do not know whether the Post Office account allows for this as we are not with them. We possibly pay more in account fees and charges, but service wise it is an advantage, particularly when you are not a permanent resident.

We too pay our bills via DD from our Italian bank account and have always done this.However, if you register on the enel.it site it is possible to have your bill sent via email rather than to receive a paper copy - it is exactly the same format as the paper version and on one of the pages it lists the various payment methods - it states it is also posible to pay via  bank transfer, all the account/IBAN numbers etc are provided and it does say you can pay via credit card if you are registered via the enel site. So I would ask to receive your bill via email, that way you will get it wherever you are and also speak to them and see if either of these alternative methods of payment are open to you as non- resident, I would have thought at least one of them is! 

Sign up for ebilling Karen, it's easy and you can keep track of your bills from Blighty. https://www.enel.it/it-IT/clienti/enel_servizio_elettrico/servizi/custom...?

the only "weak link" is using the banca posta rather than a proper bank, who do not care where you live and will fill in the form and ensure the direct debit has gone thru to enel/telecom and all the others.

The fact they don't care would worry some... I would also be a little concerned setting up a DD in Italy as I would guess if they take off 10,000 for some reason and it's wrong, it will be a lot harder to correct it here as it would in the UK... Like has been said, log on for e-bills and pay however you like...  :)

We too pay our enel and water bills by direct debit through the bank, and so far no problems at all.  I can log on to our bank account and can also pay other bills through them from England.  Does make life simpler.

I have managed to register online with Enel, but they say you can only pay online with an Italian-registered credit card. Also they will only accept certain cards. We have an Italian Banca posta card but it is Maestro which is not one of the accepted types. I am reluctant to open an Italian bank account just to pay bills.

Is the card for a Poste account? If so can you not pay online on the Postesite via this a/c? The fact you are on the ENEL site at least allows you to view your bills and know they are due. Now all you need is to find some way (person) to pay them... There are Italian (or other Euro) accounts that cost nothing to run, most are online a/c only, but that would be ideal if you can pay via the account. Think ING, Poste Click and Intesa are/have such  accounts...

They read your meter electronically with no 'meter reader' visits! I agree the website is a bit clunky, but the email link when you get the bill works quite well.

It is true that Italian bank fees are high. On the other hand, you have to consider convenience and certainly, having all your bills on direct debit gives you peace of mind. If you are not a resident, you save yourself time and money by having this kind of arrangements. You have to do a bit of homework and find out which is the most convenient solution. I think that we also pay about 120 or 150 € in bank charges every year, but we are happy with our arrangements and we know that we can call or email our bank if we need assistance on matters that we cannot fix through net banking.

Originally, I paid my Enel bills by direct debit, but baulked at the huge charges, and closed my Italian bank account. I then filled out the same form on three separate occasions at the local Enel shop, to allow payment by direct debit on a UK issued credit card. This worked well, until the card expired, as they do, payment was refused, and the power cut off. Well, reduced, anyway. Since the bill only arrives six times a year, both by email and snailmail, I now pay it direct from my Irish (free) Euro account. There's a facility to use previous payment details, so all I have to alter is the invoice no. Of course, the downside of this is that a refund to my time-expired credit card had nowhere to go, and has resided for the last year or so in Enel's vast coffers. But it was only 30 euros, so heigh ho. I looked into paying by some other, simple, method, which I've forgotten now, but this relied on the recipient being signatory to SEPA, which stands, I think, for Single European Payment Agreement, or Area, and have a wild guess at what Enel's attitude to this might be??

When I first got my house, electricity and water were owned by the comune and they couldn't do online payments, so I had my bills sent direct to a friend in another part of Italy, gave her a UK-issued euro pre-paid card which I top-up from the UK as necessary. She texts me the amount so I have a record till I physically get the bills from her on my next visit. Works pretty well. It's another option.

we are in same situation as you describe. Have got BancoPosta on line, plus registered with Enel (and CIIP for water) so can 'see' bills, get the emails when they fall due, receive paper copies and pay electronically. You will need BPs security device to make payments as well as a card. Easy enough to register your italian address with the local postal office on application to start with and subsequently ask them at the local office to change mailing address to your UK address for a period as you will be away. As someone esle has posted, you can only use an italian issued credit card to pay enel. Wouldn't trust a DD.

Hi Karen,  i was also confused that how to pay my electricity bill and what is the proceedure for it then i made contact to the professional coursework writers online and they guide me in detail about the procedure. You better contact them to solve your problemKarenSheffieldKarenSheffield

 Thank you to everyone who made suggestions and omments.In the end we have given the property manager our online details for the Enel account, and she can now log on and see if any bills need paying, and pay them online, using our BancaPosta card..This way we don't have to have a bank account, and we don't have to rely on the post office to deliver bills to the Italian house.I must say when I read Poetica saying  "Easy enough to register your italian address with the local postal office on application to start with and subsequently ask them at the local office to change mailing address to your UK address" I was moved to hollow laughter. We tried to to ask the post office to send our mail to our next door neighbour, but not only did this take over an hour - and  our kind neighbour had to go there the next day as well to fill in forms - it still did not work, as she reported finding a bill on the steps to our house. We have a post-box, but it is at the top of the steps! Why is it that Italian institutions are still in the pre-digital age? (Apart from Enel, and even then...) Still, it's all part of the joy of living in Italy!  Cheers, Karen

Paying for the electric bill is really tough. You will need to go for a payday loan to pay for the bills as well as the taxes.

 Anybody got an email address for Enel

It would be hilarious if it wasn't so awful. Glad you have a solution at last Karen. I pay somebody to check my place. They do it for a nuber of people. They pay any bills that come in. I reimburse or pay in advance when there. Not thr best. If I was more PC savvy and had better Italian I would try the ebiling. Haven't got round to it yet.

Well, after 5 hours I give up.  I've got absolutely nowhere.  I've been on four different versions of the Enel website, have been misdirected no end of times to pages that do not exist.Eventually it seems like it is indeed possible to have online access and pay your bills by direct debit, but this option requires an IBAN number so it is right back full circle to needing an Italian bank account.  I only go to the property once a year and to be honest it is just not worth it any more.  I am going to just stop paying, let them shut off the electrics again and just buy some candles at Auchan when I arrive.  Buying a property in Italy was one of the worst mistakes of my life. 

This is what I see after I successfully log in and enter my Client Number.  And since no one speaks English at their helpline and my Italian is not good enough to discuss such complicated matters, I am back full circle again...AvvisoGentile cliente, per la fornitura selezionata non è possibile effettuare l'operazione richiesta.Per ulteriori informazioni, ti preghiamo di contattare i nostri operatorial Numero Verde 800 900 800 oppure di rivolgerti ai nostri sportelli sul territorio.Per sapere qual'è il Punto Enel più comodo per te, clicca qui.Grazie.  

Really sorry to hear that jgudorf. You don't say which service you are libero or Tutela? If the latter (ours), then we did have a problem with this page and it was to do with the number entered. Intially I did as I would in the UK and did not add the "/" with a number after it. Once added it worked, HOWEVER, now it objects to the "/" and I only enter our 9 didgit number, "Numero cliente" on your bill top right, without spaces... is how it works for ours...Saying all that I'm not really sure how this is going to help you, apart from knowing there is a bill to pay as you indicate you don't have an Italian a/c to pay from.... Not tried it, but you could possible pay a few other ways; Paypal, Sisal or a poste prepaid credit card. Not too sure of the costs of any of these... Paypal I've not used for a long time, but would guess you would need the IBAN details to pay (as you would with most payments). Last thing you would want to do is pay via a UK bank as it will cost an arm and a leg... Other options are someone like CurrencyFair or Transferwise, the latter would be about £1 per payment, again you will need IBAN detail, but these are really not hard to get!  I'm guessing here, as my Italian is poor, but think the Bank a/c to pay is on the DD authorisation on the back of your bill. I'll have a poke around as I'm sure you can trace IBANs (in fact know you can) from the company name. Note they don't have paypal on their method of payment, so guess it will be an IBAN payment...jgudorf

 As I posted try the Enel office in Chieti

Pas55 and I thought you were going to pop over and sort it... JG, this ENEL page seems to me to be your situation http://www.enel.it/it-IT/clienti/enel_servizio_elettrico/la_tua_bolletta/paga_bolletta/pagamenti_estero.aspx I note what you said about trying this before, so perhaps you do need to comfirm the correct IBAN to use. Perhaps a armed with a print of the page you can go into the office Pas55 give you and get them to tell you which it is - in writing! I know CurrencyFair ( these https://www.currencyfair.com/exchange-pound-sterling-to-euro/ ) allow two boxes for details to go with your payment, I've used them often. But Transferwise (these https://transferwise.com/support/euro-transfers ) are cheaper if less than £200 payment ( £1 ), they also allow a reference, but I've not used them so don't know the full details. CurrencyFair charge  flat €3 per payment regardless of amount...

Thank you again Pas55 for taking so much time to try to help me.  I'm going to take the weekend off from thinking about Enel and then try again all of next week.  I think you are correct that there are various companies within the overal company of Enel and it is easy to be re-directed to the "wrong" one.  I will have a look at Currency Fair as well next week.  One thing I discovered on Friday is that it is possible to switch to Edison energy and their website seems much more easy friendly.  It only took 5 minutes to sign up and figure out how to switch.  Of course I still hit a brick wall because I did not have an Italian IBAN number to set up a direct debit.If I can successfully set up a Post Office bank account in October (not possible online) because despite having a Codice Fiscal an Italian address and my passport information they still require an Italian document card or an Italian driving license in order to open an account with the post office.  Simply put Italy likes being closed off from the rest of the world.  This is part of what makes it such an enjoyable place to visit and enables them to maintain their traditions.  However, it also prevents people from investing in the country from outside.  And I would certainly never make that mistake again.

The biggest problem I have had is that even though I successfully registered on the enel.it site it is not linked in any way to my account and when I go to what is supposedly the correct place it just says that "this service is unavailable."  Dissertation Help UK

As far as I recall, all you have to do is pick the one of two parts of the company you are with, "tutela" I have, and enter your customer number.

We have a "K Due" card from Banco Popolare. You can use it like a bank account, in particular for internet banking, and set up all your DD payments, make one-off payments etc in euros of course. Charges are minimal. simply top up as necessary from UK.

there are lots of prepay cards now.  The Genius card from Unicredit doesnt even require that you are a bank customer - you can get a card which has an IBAN, have internet banking and just top up the card by bank trasnfer.   Monte dei paschi do a version called Spider - but its costs more. 

Yes, that's exactly the type of thing, the BP one doesn't require you to have a bank account either. From (fallible) memory charges are a simple €1 per transaction. These cards offer pretty well everything except loans and overdrafts. Makes life easier and you save a bit of currency exchange costs by transferring larger lumps less often. No fuss internet banking. I have noted that transfers from UK account take a couple of days longer for no apparent reason. No other drawbacks. For what it's worth the bank told us that they were happy to open a conventional account even if non-resident.

If it is alternative payments being wanted, you can pay by Transferwise or CurrencyFair, former being cheaper under £200. You could also use either of these to top-up an Italian card. However if you need to see your bills, then you still need to get past the ENEL registration.

Hello Karen, I have just joined the forum, and I guess you have already found ways to solve this question.  However, if you have not, I have discovered how to obtain bills on line from Enel.