Water rates
We do not set the rates: the authorities in charge and the water utility do. We apply them when we share out the cost. Here is how they work and where to look them up.
Who sets them
ARERA makes the rules, the water utility sets the figures
For the water service the rules come from ARERA, the national authority that regulates energy, networks and the environment. Its rules on rates apply across the whole of Italy. The actual figures come from the water utility for your area.
ARERA
The public authority that regulates water, energy and the environment. It decides how rates are put together, and the items you see on your bill.
The water utility
For Bologna and its province this is HERA. It applies the rates for the integrated water service, and publishes the current figures on its own website, in the rates section.
L.I.R.A.
We do not decide the prices: we read the meters and split the cost between the homes in the building, applying the rates in force.
How they work
Per person: the rate follows the people
For household use where people are resident, the rate is per person: the usage bands depend on how many people live in the home.
Why it matters who lives in your home
The more people are recorded as living in the home, the more water you get at the base rate. So it is important to tell us about every change in the people living there. With the right details, you pay the right rate.
There is also a separate set of rates for homes where nobody is resident — second homes, for example.
The items you see on your bill
Base rate, sewerage, waste water treatment, the fixed charge and the small items set by ARERA. Every one of them is explained, box by box, in the guide to the bill. That guide is in Italian only.
The fixed charge covers the cost of running the service. You pay it even when you have used no water at all: that is what the rules on rates say, for every home.
For the current figures, see the water utility's website gruppohera.it (rates section). You can also write to us at info@lirabo.com: we will tell you which set of rates applies to your building.
Find out more
Understanding your bill down to the last item
Guide to the bill
Every box on the bill explained in plain words, on a sample document. In Italian only.
Read the guideChange in the people living in your home
The number of people in your home decides your share: tell us about every change, using a form.
Tell us about a changeGlossary
ARERA, per-person charging, metering and cost allocation: the words behind your rates, explained simply. In Italian only.
Go to the glossaryAnd heating? There, no authority sets a rate: the cost is what your building really spends, and the residents' meeting approves it. Where the cost of heating comes from explains how it builds up and how it is shared out.