For nine years, Hungarian households have benefited, without limitation, from energy prices five times lower than those of the market thanks to a vast program of price control called overhead free. On Wednesday July 13, the government of Viktor Orban partially abandoned this program, one of its political totems, on the sidelines of the announcement of a “energy state of emergency” decreed in the face of the risk of disruption of supplies that awaits the country.
From 1is August, households that will exceed 210 kilowatt hours of electricity and 144 m3 of gas per month (the average Hungarian consumption) will pay the deregulated tariff for the surplus. “This measure was necessary because otherwise the entire price framework would have been in danger. […] The left has never encouraged this policy which we wish to continue to defend”. argued Friday 15 July