Capo Boi's activity

Badger, I'm obviously missing something here. I completely don't understand your table. Top rate for 1kw is around 0.23c.

Hello Fillide "but like Obama et al you are (arguably, I'm a complete fence sitter!) confusing sustainability with affordability" I was not at all aware that I was taking about "sustainability". I was, however, talking about "affordability". To me, making statements that fuel "prices are going to rocket" without a single piece of supporting evidence is quite dangerous. I have nothing whatsoever against solar, photovoltaics or geothermal except the "true" initial capital costs to my mind are very high and in purely economic terms (unless these costs fall substantially) many people may be worse off in their pocket compared to conventional fuels. More so, if the prices of conventional fuels actually fall in real terms. Its a bit ironic that "For poor (as in not a lot of money) mortals" green energy may actually be a higher cost solution. However, if more ethically aware people than myself decide to go down this route then I totally respect them. And....I don't work for ENEL.

"What everyone seems to forget is that prices for electricity, gas, oil etc are going to rocket over the next 10 years - indeed we may even find supplies rationed, so  spending a bit more now on solar/wood burning stoves now is not a luxury choice made by those with more money than sense." I admire your "green" credentials but for us lesser mortals you are making a big sweeping statement.  In the late 1980's and for the most part of the 1990's fuel prices in real terms (ie inflation adjusted) were actually falling. It took the 20 years to 2007 for real fuel prices to regain their 1987 peak. One could argue that the period 2005 to 2008 was a speculative bubble or a catch up. (who knows?). Prices for the last 12 months, for example, are down around 12% and without a sustained pick-up in world economic recovery its difficult to see how prices can be pushed higher. Not well known, but the actually peak in real fuel prices was not the 1973-74 period but around 1917 as WW1 drew to its conclusion. I've no problem whatsoever with solar but in pure economic terms break-even recovery rates are pushed out considerably by falling real electricity prices. You could well be right Abruzzo but also you could be wrong.

Hello Ram, vitamin B1 does seem to have some sort of positive effect. As it was explained to me, it alters the smell of your body sweat to a taste undesirable to the said small insects. You should start taking a vitamin pill once a day, two weeks before (this is the crucial part) the start of your holiday and continue taking them whilst there. I used to travel a lot in the far east and would always do this. I couldn't swear to it but I think it helped.

The main diy store in Sardinia is Bricoman. If you go to www.bricoman.it you can download a full catalogue in pdf form including a complete price list. I don't know how close this will be to Leroy-Merlin prices but should give you a reasonable guide. If anything prices in Napoli should be cheaper.

I agree with Badger. You can effectively have as much power supply as you want. We have 12kw. We are totally dependent on electricity for heating, garden, pool etc. Last year our bill was about €4,200 (350m2 house) so if you are starting from scratch it may be worth your while to investigate alternative power sources.

sprostoni. Average spot rate on 31 July was 1.20. (little intraday fluctuation). Dealing at 1.5% away from spot (including any charges) which pretty much any foreign exchange broker would have been able to achieve for you would have yielded an effective rate of €1.182. I would go back to Moneycorp if I were you and ask them to justify their rate.

Hello Saffie, This is maybe not very green, but I would go every time for the chlorinated option. We had our pool built eight years ago.  For the first couple of years we ran it as a salt water pool. Everything was fine in the spring and autumn but when temperatures really rose in the summer the water quality really deteriorated. Big algae bloom which no amount of additional salt would remove. Since switching to chlorine everything has been great. Properly controlled there is absolutely no smell and you can swim one to two hours after cleaning with no problems whatsoever.

On no account, attempt to whistle along to a well known aria.

I think that you will find it very difficult to operate without an Italian bank account, whether a post office or mainstream account. There are certain charges (comune, rubbish etc), that can usually only be paid through an Italian account, (or in euro cash, but then you still have to acquire the euros with their associated costs). Italian banking follows the "European" model in that it is transaction based. You essentially pay for each transaction made. This is no different to most of Europe. UK banking operates on a system of cross subsidisation of products. "Free" current accounts are paid for by higher credit card charges etc. Its arguable that had the UK banks followed the European model then government bailouts would have been much lower. I would say, just factor in the Italian bank charges as a "necessary" cost of owing a property in Italy.