9990 ENEL and a new supply

We in June applied to ENEL for them to provide a 6KW supply for a new house. We were advised by the builders who we bought the villa from and ENEL that it would take about 20 days. After chasing ENEL we were advised that they had given us the wrong form to complete and would need to complete another, which we did.

After chasing yet again we are now advised that as the development (4 small villas) will need new poles as the existing ones are too small, the supply cannot be guaranteed for the next 3 months.

We have taken bookings on the rental, based on information provided and the guests are due to arrive next week.

Any advice on how to accelerate the process or if a generator could be used as a short term fix has any one any advice on what would be required.

HELP

Category
Cost of living - Utility Services

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 07/16/2008 - 12:10

This is probably a forlorn hope if you haven't got any electricity anywhere near your house, but you could try asking ENEL for 3kW to be going on with (just in case they only need to renew the line to cope with the 6kW request). Hard luck with having been let down this way.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 06:48

See if you can get hold of the mobile number of the technician who will be doing the work- we did this & spoke to him directly which really speeded things up (I think the thought of endless phone calls from someone speaking pigeon Italian was too much for him to deal with!)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 08:40

Our very good electrician arranged for a temporary connection for us. i.e. whilst the builders were on site they had access to electricity and when they left site he just adapted this to feed into the whole house. We have been living like this for 3 months -ENEL are coming tomorrow to put our poles up:) I hasten to add that the "builders supply" was in our name and we pay the bills. Talk to a good electrician.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 15:00

Thanks fro all the advice, but the situation is that the original supply to the site was only 1.5KW and this is being shared with the owner of the land on which the villa is built.

Requests to ENEL to provide us with just 3KW has come back with the same reply - we need to replace the poles and these will be installed by a 3rd party contractor, so I fear there is no room to hassle the technician!!

It has been very frustrating having waited what seems an age to sign the final contract, when all the while the electricity could have been installed, but the builder refused to apply ands insisting it would only take 15/20 days following Il Rogito.

We feel that the builder should have been in contact with ENEL earlier - we are the first of 4 villas on the small development - but they appear to beleive it is not their concern.

A new enquiry for 2 weeks in September has arrived - I will have to break the news!!!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 20:20

Very bad luck indeed.

Are there any plant hire places near you? A 3kw diesel generator is not an uncommon piece of kit, and there should be some going begging in the August relax season. They don't make the ideal background noise for a holiday let, though.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 03:30

[quote=Jenroy;93372]............the situation is that the original supply to the site was only 1.5KW and this is being shared with the owner of the land on which the villa is built.............................[/quote]

Cynic that I am - will the owner upgrade to 3kW after you've paid for the new poles?

.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 05:32

Strange that you should mention it!!! - he has already mentioned he supports our escalation as he wants to upgrade himself.

However I havbe yet to be advised there will be a charge for the posts as we were quoted a connection fee plus an upgrade fee to 6.5KW and nothing has been said about any additional charges, but I do accept they could still be levied.

Interestingly I have just heard that the developer's solicitor has threatened ENEL with court actuion if the supply is not provided within 5 days. On what basis this has been issued I know not, but it is reassuring to know that we have someone else batting for us. (He is not English - so we might get a better result).

Roy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 08/04/2008 - 06:37

We have just (last month) had exactly the same problem in Calopezzati, Calabria and resloved the issue by hiring a digger and placing the cable underground. This was helped along by us contacting the Tecnico in charge of the work directly after numerous attempts to uncover his identity, which we obtained from our electrician.
This option may not be feasible for you as it dependes on where the supply is to be taken from but it's worth checking.

Good luck!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 08/15/2008 - 14:00

May be of interest,house in village centre have just upgraded from 3KW to 6KW supply, all external cables remain the same ( old thin and dodgy looking ) internal meter remains the same, I was charged 400 Euros for what ?. I have no idea how they justify flicking one switch and new contact details can cost 400 euros but it did.
New gas conection, we have been quoted 1044 euros to connect new mains gas 1.25 meters, My builders dig the hole and make space in wall for the box, so 1044 euros for 1.25 meters tube and a meter that makes them a fortune anyway.
Telephone connection have not started the ball rolling, but Telecom uses the side of my house to run its cables along the street so I expect i will still be charged a small fortune for 1 meter of cable and the privledge of an expensive contract.
Happy restorations
steve

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 08/15/2008 - 17:24

Steve,
Thanks for the comparison, but I suspect that the real issue is that future development of the site will necessitate more than just a simple upgrade of the existing supply and ENEL will be looking to the future when 3 other houses will require additional supply.

We still are awaiting a response from ENEL, but it is now August so September may bring better news - but I will not hold my breath!!

Unfortunately we were the first, so we are having to suffer the delays - all that come after us will have the supply available for them - I blame the builders!!!