State-owned energy firm MVM has completed a deal to acquire 100 per cent of E.ON Áramszolgáltató, German-owned E.ON’s local electricity distributor for the regulated retail market, making it the only universal provider of the country’s natural gas and the electricity market.
The sale of E.ON Áramszolgáltató does not affect customers in the competitive market that have a contract with E.ON Hungária Group. E.ON Group will continue to provide electricity services to them in the future.
MVM Group – which owns a 25 per cent stake in E.ON Hungária – and E.ON reached an agreement on the acquisition in February. The companies said the current agreement supports the long-term strategies of the two groups and helps them optimise their portfolios.
“As a result of this transaction, MVM Group will provide the entire universal natural gas and electricity service in Hungary,” said Gábor Czepek, President and CEO of MVM Group, upon the announcement of the transaction adding that thanks to this historic portfolio expansion, MVM already supplies energy to nearly ten million retail and business customers nationwide and beyond.
According to the press statement of E.ON Hungária, in the future, the group will focus on the development and operation of electricity and natural gas networks in Hungary, as well as on energy trade in the competitive market, and will offer energy solutions to its customers nationwide, which will enable them to become more cost-effective and environmentally conscious.
As a result of the transaction, the state-owned group will also bear the full cost of price curbs on household energy bills in place since 2015. In the meantime, the surge in energy prices following the Russia-Ukraine war is putting increased pressure on the government’s policy of utility price cuts.