“Hungarians Have the Cheapest Energy Costs in Europe”

“The latest report covering 27 countries shows once again that all Hungarian families are benefiting from the price-freeze. In January this year, we Hungarians received the gas and electricity at the lowest cost in Europe,” stated Szilárd Németh, Member of Parliament on Facebook.

In January, Budapest’s gross electricity prices – the one set through price regulation and the one paid by consumers with above-average energy consumption – were the lowest for households in the European Union. This is according to the data published by the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH) from the analysis of Finnish company VaasaETT.

The diagram of gas prices shows a similarly positive picture. In the EU, the Budapest end consumer price for households was once again the lowest due to the reduction in ancillary costs. However, for consumers using more than the amount of gas defined as average consumption, the price was about double the capped price, which is only the fourth lowest price.

There is a specific reason why MEKH publishes two prices for Budapest. The newly published price reflects how much a household would have to pay if it were to exceed the amount set by the government as the average consumption in 2022 by 20 percent. Of course, those who exceed the limit will not have to pay more for the total amount of electricity or gas they use, but only for the excess consumption. The tariff for the excess consumption is referred to as the market price, but in fact this is also a price set by the state.

Hungarians have the lowest energy costs in Europe and the government will continue to protect the reduction of additional costs in the future,

said the government commissioner responsible for maintaining the reduction in ancillary costs at a press conference on Wednesday. Szilárd Németh remarked that electricity and gas prices in the domestic market are significantly lower than in other countries of the region. The difference with other EU Member States is even greater based on the MEKH’s January price comparison report, which covers 27 European countries.

The gross household electricity price in Budapest, calculated in euro cents per kilowatt hour, was 9.07 euro cents in January, while the average price, assuming an additional consumption of 20 percent, was 10.45 euro cents.

At the other end of the list is Berlin with 40.42 euro cents, followed by Brussels (38.62) and Copenhagen (37.47).

The Budapest gas tariff amounted to 2.49 euro cents per kilowatt hour thanks to the reduction in ancillary costs, the average price assuming an additional consumption of 20 percent was 5.06 euro cents.

MEKH supplements the Finnish company’s analysis by calculating the monthly electricity and gas bill burden for an average-earning Budapest household with two earners. The modeled Budapest household came second in this ranking in January with a value of 1.9 percent. A more favorable value of 1.8 percent was only determined for Luxembourg.

Via MEKH, MTI, Ungarn Heute; Featured picture: Pixabay