Glossary
The words of water and heating, explained simply. So that every item on your bill, and every notice from the building, makes sense.
Words made clear
The words you actually come across, explained in a few lines
No jargon: only the words that come up when people talk about meters, readings and how the cost is split. Next to the English word you also find the Italian one, the word you will hear used and see on your documents. Where it helps, there is a link to the page that goes into detail.
Metering and cost allocation (contabilizzazione)
Measuring how much water or how much heat each single home uses. It is what makes it possible to split the building costs fairly: everyone pays for what they really use, and not the same amount as everybody else.
Heat cost allocator (ripartitore di calore)
A small electronic device fitted to each radiator. It records how much heat that radiator gives off and sends the figure by radio, with no wires and no work inside your home. It is the most common way of metering central heating.
Heat meter (contacalorie)
A meter that measures all the heat a home uses. It reads the temperature of the water going into the home and of the water coming out again, and works out the energy used. It is fitted where each home has its own heating inlet.
Individual meter (contatore divisionale)
Your own water meter, the one that serves your home, as opposed to the building's main meter. Where individual meters are fitted, the water cost is split according to what each household really uses.
Smart metering
Italian uses the English words as they are, so you will come across them unchanged. They mean electronic meters that record what you use and send the figures from a distance. No more appointments for a reading: the data arrives on its own.
Walk-by reading (lettura walk-by)
Our technician walks or drives past the building and picks up the figures from every meter by radio. Nobody rings your bell and nobody comes into your home. The whole building is read in a few minutes.
Remote reading (lettura da remoto)
The figures reach our systems on their own, with nobody coming to the building at all. Readings that are always real and up to date, never estimated. From 1 January 2027 devices that can be read remotely become compulsory for metering.
Meter reading you send us (autolettura)
The reading you send in yourself: you look at the numbers on the dial of the meter and send them to us. It takes 2 minutes, and your bill is then based on what you really used, not on an estimate.
Change of account holder (voltura)
Moving the account from one name to another, for example when you buy a home or take over a tenancy. You ask for it with a simple form, and the service is not interrupted.
Per-person charging (tariffazione pro-capite)
A way of allocating the water cost based on how many people live in each home. This is why it matters that you tell us when your household changes size: the allocation is updated accordingly.
ARERA (Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente)
The Italian public authority that sets the rules and the rates for water, energy and environmental services. The rates you find on your bill follow the decisions it takes.
Cost allocation (ripartizione)
Splitting the cost of water or heating between the homes in the building, using the criteria set by law. For heating it has two parts: a share tied to what each home uses, and a fixed share — the part everyone pays — which covers the heat the shared system loses anyway.
Building balancing charge (conguaglio condominiale)
The difference between what the building owes the water utility on its main meter and the total already billed to each home on its individual meter. It is not an arbitrary charge, and it is not an extra item. It is the part of the bill for the whole building that the individual meters do not attribute to anyone. It still has to be covered: that is what it takes to pay in full for the water service of the whole building. It comes from water used in the common areas, from the measuring tolerance that every meter is allowed, and from the different way the water utility works. The utility reads and bills on its own cycle and on one combined figure, while we work the figures out home by home. It is normally shared out in proportion to what each home uses, and it can be a charge or a credit.
Estimated-reading adjustment (conguaglio su lettura stimata)
Not to be confused with the one for the building: this difference concerns you alone. When your reading does not reach us, the bill is worked out on estimates, that is on a forecast based on what you used in the past. At the first real reading the calculation is corrected, and the gap — against you or in your favour — appears as an adjustment. Sending us your reading when we ask for it is how you avoid finding a large amount to pay all at once.
Ownership shares (millesimi)
The share of the building each home owns, written in the building's ownership tables: it is what the shared costs are split by. The bigger the home, the larger its share. Which table is used for heating is decided by the residents' meeting, and it is stated on the heating cost statement.
Heating cost statement (rendiconto del calore)
The document that splits the heating cost between the homes in the building. L.I.R.A. hands it to the building; it is then the building manager who passes it on to the residents and asks each of them for their share, along with the building's other charges.
Fixed share (quota involontaria)
The part of the heating cost that does not depend on what you do: it covers the heat the shared system loses anyway. You pay it even with the radiators off, because that heat is produced all the same.
Usage-based share (quota a consumo)
The part of the heating cost worked out from the readings of your own devices: the more you keep the heating on, the higher it goes. It is the share you can really do something about.
Heating season (stagione termica)
The part of the year when the shared heating system is allowed to be on. The dates depend on local rules and on the building's own regulations, and they set the period the heating cost statement covers.
Thermostatic valve (valvola termostatica)
The numbered knob fitted to the radiator: on its own it holds the room at the temperature you have chosen, with nothing for you to watch over. Using it well brings the usage-based share down.
Allocation coefficients (coefficienti di riparto)
The technical factors that make homes and radiators of different kinds comparable with one another, for example where the home sits in the building or what type the radiator is. They are set out on the heating cost statement, together with the criteria used to split the cost.
Central domestic hot water (acqua calda sanitaria centralizzata)
The hot water at your taps produced by the building's shared system, instead of by a water heater inside your own home. It is metered separately and appears as an item of its own on the heating cost statement.
Need anything else?
Is a word missing?
Write to us at info@lirabo.com: we answer in plain words and, if it is useful to everyone, we add the entry to the glossary. Would you rather speak to a person? Call us on 051 226693 — on the phone we answer in Italian.