The Hungarian Ministry of Energy announced to further reduce the district heating fees for institutions starting in October. The costs for non-residential consumers were already halved in January. From the beginning of October municipalities, public institutions, and businesses will pay a quarter of the end-of-year fees on a national average, said Csaba Lantos, Hungary’s Minister of Energy.
Due to the former measures of the Ministry of Energy, non-residential consumers can benefit from natural gas-based district heating at a lower cost from the beginning of 2023. The so-called separately managed institutional fees and prices for other users decreased by approximately 50 per cent in most municipalities in January.
In the new gas year starting on 1 October, Hungarian state-owned energy holding, MVM Group will provide the necessary natural gas for the operations of all domestic district heat producers. To ensure predictability, the company secured already the required gas quantity. Along with ensuring supply security, further reductions in fees for non-residential consumers became possible, informed the ministry.
Due to the security of the gas supply, the costs for institutions and other users will decrease beyond previous expectations starting from 1 October. This means that even before the start of the heating season, institutional fees will roughly halve again. Since the beginning of 2023, the district heating expenses for companies and municipalities have decreased to a quarter of the levels from the last quarter of 2022.
“With the energy price cap maintained up to the average consumption, the government guarantees the lowest electricity and gas prices in Europe for Hungarian families. The reduced district heating prices for households will remain unchanged in the new gas year,” said Minister Lantos adding that while the government can support institutions and businesses in district heating at even lower budgetary costs than before. “The support needed for the sector could decrease by several hundred billion forints in the next gas year compared to the closing gas year,” he pointed out.
