Connection Guide
Switching On Your Brand-New Home: A New-Build Connection Guide for Olim in Israel
When you buy off-plan in Israel — an iska kablan bought straight from the developer — your apartment has never been lived in, and in most cases never even connected. There is no previous tenant's account to transfer, no meter already spinning, no service to simply "put in your name." You are the first.
That is mostly good news: clean accounts, modern infrastructure, often fibre to the door and a smart electricity meter from day one. But it also means the responsibility for opening each account sits with you, and the timing hinges on one event — the handover, or mesira (מסירה) — when the developer hands you the keys and a signed handover protocol. This guide walks through every connection, in the order you will actually need them.
The one date that drives everything
Your mesira date is the trigger. Most utilities can only be opened once the apartment has a registered address, a finished meter installation by the developer, and a signed handover protocol (protokol mesira). Confirm the date in writing with the developer — in new projects it commonly slips by weeks — and do not schedule movers or connections until it is firm.
Have these documents scanned on your phone: passport or teudat zehut, teudat oleh if you have one, the purchase contract (chozeh), the signed handover protocol, your Israeli bank details for hora'at keva (direct debit), an Israeli mobile number, and the project's gush-chelka (block and parcel) details from the contract.
The connection timeline: count backwards from handover
Off-plan timing runs backwards from your handover date rather than from a moving van.
4–6 weeks before handover: confirm the mesira date in writing; ask the developer which electricity meter is installed and how gas is supplied (central piped or balloon); ask whether the building has fibre and which company wired it; and open an Israeli bank account if you do not have one.
2–3 weeks before handover: pre-register your electricity account so it can go live on handover day; contact the local water corporation (tagid) about meter registration; choose your internet infrastructure provider and ISP; and identify the building manager or va'ad bayit contact.
Handover week: photograph every meter (electric, water, and gas if present) with its serial number and reading; collect the signed handover protocol; confirm the official address and gush-chelka for the arnona file; and test that power and water are physically live before you sign off snags.
The single most useful thing you can do at handover is photograph each meter showing its serial number and opening reading, with a timestamp. It protects you against being billed for the developer's construction-period usage and settles any dispute in seconds.
Electricity: a grid you share, a supplier you choose
Israel's electricity market has opened up. The grid and most meters are still operated by the Israel Electric Corporation (Chevrat Hashmal / IEC), but you can now buy your actual supply from competing private suppliers, often at a discount to the regulated tariff.
Register the supply in your name with IEC first — usually doable online or by phone once you have the protocol. Then decide whether to switch to a private supplier for a percentage discount; the wires, meter and fault service stay with IEC, only billing changes. Set up a direct debit so you never miss a bill. Most newly built apartments come with a smart meter already fitted, which means no estimated readings, near-instant account opening, and access to time-of-use tariffs — cheaper power overnight, which pairs well with an air-conditioning-heavy Israeli summer if you pre-cool.
Olim may be entitled to certain billing benefits in the first period after aliyah — ask IEC what applies. Bills are typically issued every two months, and your account should start from your handover reading, not the developer's construction-period usage.
Water and sewage: no choice of provider, but register everyone
Water in Israel is supplied by regional tagidei mayim — municipal water corporations — not a national company, and there is no choice of provider: your supplier is dictated by where the apartment sits. Water and sewage (biyuv) are billed together, usually every two months.
Register the meter in your name with the opening reading, and crucially register the number of residents. The water tariff gives each registered resident a lower-priced quota before the higher rate kicks in, so a family that fails to register everyone pays the expensive rate far sooner. Set up direct debit and check the first bill against your opening reading.
Cooking gas: central, balloon, or none at all
How you get gas depends entirely on the building. Many newer towers use a central piped gas system (gaz merkazi); others rely on balloon gas (gaz balon) — cylinders connected to your apartment. A growing number of new apartments are all-electric and have no gas at all.
If the building has central piped gas, you generally must use the company the developer names — open an account and arrange a technician to activate and test the supply. If it uses balloon gas, choose a national supplier and arrange cylinder delivery and connection. If the apartment is all-electric, there is nothing to set up; your hob and any heating run off the electricity account.
Whatever the system, the connection of gas appliances in Israel must be done by a certified gas technician — never connect cylinders yourself. If you ever smell gas, do not switch anything on or off: leave, ventilate, and call the supplier's emergency line from outside.
Internet and television: two bills, not one
Israeli home internet is split into two separate bills, which surprises many newcomers: the infrastructure company (tashtit) that owns the line into your home, and the ISP (sapak) that provides the actual internet service over it. You choose each and you pay each, though bundled deals are common.
Two national infrastructure networks reach most homes — Bezeq (including its fibre arm) and Hot (cable) — and new towers are increasingly wired for full fibre. Because the building is new, the fibre is freshly laid and the in-apartment point is already there, so activation is often a remote switch-on rather than a site visit. Ask for a fibre plan and you typically get far higher speeds for a similar price.
Watch the introductory price: Israeli telecom deals lean heavily on low introductory rates that jump after twelve months. Note the renewal date in your calendar and renegotiate or switch — there is usually no penalty for moving ISP.
Arnona and the va'ad bayit: two charges that start at handover
Two charges are easy to overlook at handover, and both start the moment you take possession.
Arnona is the municipal property tax paid to the local authority (iriya), charged by apartment area. Open an arnona file at the iriya in your name, effective from the handover date, and provide the exact possession date so you are not charged for the developer's period.
Olim should claim the arnona discount. New immigrants are eligible for a significant reduction — a single 12-month benefit, used once within your first 24 months in Israel, on the first 100 m² of the apartment. It is not automatic; you must apply at the iriya with your teudat oleh. Confirm the current rate for your municipality.
The va'ad bayit (building committee fee) covers the lobby, lifts, gardens, security, and shared electricity and water. In a new tower it is often professionally managed at first via a chevrat nihul, and the fee reflects the building's amenities — a tower with a pool, gym and 24-hour lobby costs considerably more than a small block. Get the monthly figure in writing before you budget.
Finally, your new apartment comes with a developer warranty. For an agreed period after handover — the bedek (defects) period — the developer must fix construction defects. Report snags in writing, keep a dated log, and do not let the bedek window lapse with issues unrecorded.
The three habits that save the most
Lock the mesira date in writing, and connect nothing until it is firm.
Photograph every meter with its serial and opening reading, so your accounts start from your reading, not the developer's.
Claim the benefits olim are owed — the arnona discount at the iriya, and every resident registered on the water account.
Switching on a brand-new home sounds daunting and rarely is. Every account starts clean, the infrastructure is modern, and the whole process hinges on one firm date and one good habit. Do that, and each connection is a short administrative task rather than a battle.
This article is general information for buyers of new-build property in Israel and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Provider names, tariffs, benefits and procedures change and vary by municipality and building; confirm current details with each provider and the relevant authority before acting.
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