Reading time: 10 min · Published by Phoenix Relocation Group · September 2026
In London or New York you move into a flat, call a couple of companies, and the lights stay on. In Milan, the lights may well stay on too, but they stay on in someone else’s name, on someone else’s tariff, and occasionally on a contract the previous tenant is still trying to close. Meanwhile, the heating season opens on 15 October, and a Milan apartment in the second half of October without a working gas contract is not a comfortable place.
We set up utilities for international professionals every week. The process is not difficult, but it is sequenced, it is paper-heavy, and it is almost entirely in Italian. Here is how it works, what it costs, and where people lose time.
Before you call anyone: the three things you need
Every utility contract in Italy is built on the same three documents, and missing any one of them stops the process.
The first is your codice fiscale, the Italian tax code. No supplier will open a contract without it. If you have not obtained one yet, an Agenzia delle Entrate office will issue it free of charge, and Italian consulates can issue it before you travel.
The second is a document proving your right to occupy the apartment, usually the registered lease. Suppliers increasingly ask for it, and it matters more than people expect: a lease that the landlord has not registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate will cause problems here and, more seriously, with your residency registration.
The third is a set of technical codes that identify the supply point, and this is where most expats get stuck because nobody explains them. Electricity is identified by the POD, a code starting with IT followed by a string of numbers and letters. Gas is identified by the PDR, a fourteen-digit number. Both appear on any previous bill, and the POD is usually printed on the electricity meter itself. Ask your landlord or agency for a copy of a recent bill before you sign; it saves days.
A useful detail on payment: you do not need an Italian bank account. Under EU Regulation 260/2012, a company that accepts direct debit in euros must accept any SEPA account, whether it is German, Irish, French or a digital bank. Refusing a foreign IBAN is not legal, although you will still meet the occasional call centre that tries. Non-EU accounts are a different matter, which is one reason we recommend opening a euro account early.
Voltura, subentro or new connection: know which one you need
Italian suppliers use three terms that describe three different situations, and asking for the wrong one wastes a week.
A voltura is a change of account holder on a supply that is still active. The previous tenant’s meter is running, the power is on, and only the name on the contract changes. It typically takes around seven working days and the supply is not interrupted.
A subentro applies when the meter is still physically in place but the supply has been closed, usually because the previous tenant terminated the contract. The supplier asks the distributor to reopen it. Allow roughly seven to ten working days.
A new connection, or allaccio, is needed when there is no meter or no connection at all, which in Milan mostly concerns new builds and heavy renovations. It can take ten to thirty days, and longer if works are needed.
In Milan, the physical networks for electricity and gas are operated largely by Unareti, part of the A2A group. You never contract with the distributor directly: you choose a supplier, and the supplier deals with the network. That also means you are free to choose any supplier on the market, whoever the previous tenant used.
What it costs to switch everything on
Italian activation costs are modest but they add up, and they are rarely presented clearly.
For a gas subentro, ARERA, the national energy regulator, sets a distributor fee of 30 euros for standard domestic meters, plus a further 47 euros where the safety documentation for the gas system must be checked. For electricity and for voltura operations, expect supplier administrative charges typically in the 25 to 30 euro range, a distributor contribution of around 23 euros, and 16 euros of stamp duty on the new contract. A voltura of a single supply usually comes to 60 to 90 euros in total.
Some suppliers also ask for a security deposit, calculated on estimated consumption. It is usually waived if you pay by direct debit, which is another reason to set that up from the start.
There is one broader point that surprises people arriving from the UK. Italy’s regulated standard offer for gas ended for non-vulnerable households in January 2024, and for electricity in July 2024. Every non-vulnerable household is now on the free market. That means there is no default tariff to fall back on: you choose an offer, fixed or variable, and you compare it yourself. The regulator’s official comparison site, ilportaleofferte.it, lists every offer on the market and is the only fully neutral place to start.
Gas and heating: the October question
Milan is in climatic zone E. The national rules allow domestic heating from 15 October to 15 April, within a daily limit on hours and a cap on indoor temperature, and the City of Milan confirms the exact hours and temperatures by mayoral ordinance each autumn.
What that means for you depends on your building. In an apartment with autonomous heating, you have your own boiler and your own gas contract, you decide when to switch on, and your bill reflects your consumption. In a building with centralised heating, which is very common in older Milan stock, the heating is run by the building administrator for the whole condominium. You do not choose the start date, you do not choose the hours, and the cost appears in your spese condominiali, split according to heat-meter readings where the building has them. In that case you may not need a gas contract at all, or only for cooking.
Check which situation applies before you sign the lease, and ask for last winter’s heating costs. In a poorly insulated building, the winter condominium charges can be as significant as a second rent instalment.
Internet: fibre is the norm, not the premium
Milan is one of the best-connected cities in Italy, and most central addresses have access to FTTH, full fibre to the home. Pricing is competitive. According to Selectra’s price observatory, the average FTTH offer in Italy cost 27.83 euros a month in September 2026, with standalone fibre offers from around 23 euros and bundled offers lower still. Speeds of 1 to 2.5 Gbps are standard in the city, with some operators offering more.
Three points matter more than the headline price. Contracts usually run for 24 months, with charges if you leave early, and the modem is frequently paid for in instalments that become due in full on early exit. If you are on a two-year assignment, read the exit terms before the speed. Second, coverage is checked address by address, down to the building, so confirm FTTH availability for the exact address before you commit. Third, activation takes one to three weeks. A mobile hotspot plan from TIM, Vodafone, WindTre or Iliad covers the gap, and a SIM requires a passport and codice fiscale.
Water, waste and the TV licence
Water in Milan is managed by MM Spa, and the city’s water tariffs are among the lowest in Italy. In most apartment buildings, you will never sign a water contract: there is a single meter for the building, and your share appears in the condominium charges. Only independent houses and some newer buildings have individual contracts.
The waste tax, TARI, is not automatic and is frequently forgotten. You must declare the new occupation to the Comune di Milano within 90 days from the date you start occupying the apartment, and registering your residency does not trigger it. The declaration is filed online through the Fascicolo del Cittadino with SPID or an electronic ID card, or by email, registered post or in person. The tax is calculated on the floor area and the number of occupants, and in 2026 it is paid in two instalments, the first in July and the balance in December. Missing the declaration leads to back-payments with penalties.
The canone RAI, Italy’s TV licence, is 90 euros a year in 2026 and is charged automatically on your electricity bill in ten monthly instalments from January to October, once per household. If you do not own a television, you can declare so to the Agenzia delle Entrate, but the declaration must be filed by 31 January to cover the whole year; one filed between 1 February and 30 June only exempts the second half. A laptop or phone used for streaming does not count as a television for this purpose.
English-language support: what to expect
This is the question our clients ask most, so here is the honest answer. Major suppliers have English pages on their websites and some offer an English-language option on their customer lines, but bills, contracts, meter-reading requests and most written communication will be in Italian. When something goes wrong, typically a bill based on estimated readings or a voltura the previous tenant never completed, the resolution happens by phone or in writing in Italian.
Two habits reduce the friction considerably. Submit your own meter readings through the supplier’s app, which avoids estimated bills. And keep every contract, activation confirmation and POD or PDR in one place from day one; you will be asked for them again at renewal, at move-out and occasionally by the Comune.
Your utilities checklist
- Before signing the lease: ask for a recent bill (POD and PDR codes), the heating type, and last year’s condominium charges
- Week one: obtain the codice fiscale if missing, choose suppliers via ilportaleofferte.it, request voltura or subentro for electricity and gas
- Week one: check FTTH coverage for the exact address and order fibre; use a mobile hotspot in the meantime
- Before 15 October: confirm the gas contract is active if you have autonomous heating
- Within 90 days of moving in: file the TARI declaration with the Comune di Milano
- By 31 January: file the canone RAI declaration if you do not own a television
- Monthly: submit meter readings through the supplier’s app to avoid estimated bills
How we help
At Phoenix Relocation Group we support international professionals and their families moving to Milan, Rome and Naples, in English, French and Italian. Our settling-in service covers exactly this ground: we collect the technical codes, compare and activate electricity, gas and internet in your name, handle the TARI declaration, and deal with the Italian-language calls when a supplier or a previous tenant creates a problem. It sits alongside our home search, residency registration and school placement support, so the pieces are handled in the right order.
→ Moving into a Milan apartment this autumn? Get in touch for a free assessment of what still needs switching on.
📧 info@phrg.it | 🌐 www.phoenixrelocationgroup.com
Found this useful? Share it with a colleague who has just signed a lease in Milan.