Adam Funk wrote:
On 2012-08-09, Steve Firth wrote:

Rod doesn't seem to have a clue about how much wood is needed to fire an
oven, or how much time it takes. He also doesn't seem to know that most
homes in Italy have a 3kW supply. They can't run a pizza oven of the sort
sold at garden centres and ironmongers because to run the 3kw element they
would have to turn everything else off.

Do you mean most old or rural homes, or even new ones?

Even new ones. There is an advantageous tariff for 3kW supplies and
anything over 9kW is charged at Industrial rates (expensive).

Smart meters are used that register short term demand over 3kW and impose a
penalty charge. Exceed by too long on too many occasions and the meter
will either restrict supply further and trip out if the limit is exceeded
or it will disconnect and have to be manually reset.

In general people go for 3kW. Some adventurous souls go for 6kW. We have a
9kW supply for which I pay top dollar. We have to run washing machine and
dishwasher between midnight and 3AM. Too expensive during the day.

And does this have anything to do with the existence of 10 A sockets
and plugs (and special circuits, I assume) in Italy, in addition to
the usual European 13 A ones?

No, houses will have a mix of sockets. It's up to the owners to restrict
their use of power.

No such thing as 13A, there are Shuko plugs that IIRC are 15A and an
Italian 16A design. Mostly sockets are installed as a combined 10A/16A
design that accepts either type of Italian plug. Kitchens have the Shuko
design (aka Tedesco).

(Sorry for the late FU, but I just happened to be rummaging through my
travel adaptors/cables recently & the 2nd question popped up.)

it constantly grates on my nerves how many adaptors I have to use in Italy.
Even after removing every BS 1363 plug from appliances I need Shuko to
Ticino, 16A to 10A, Ticino to Shuko. No matter what combination you can
guarantee that the correct adaptor won't be to hand.