“When I heard the announcement of the restriction of the energy tariff framework, the first feeling was that of panic. We live in the provinces with my family in a two-storey house heated by gas. If we only stayed on gas, our charges would be multiplied by five. For us, it is inaccessible”, says Agnes, justifying the partial transition from housing to firewood.
Mother of two children in the Tolna region [sud-ouest de la Hongrie], she was quick to call local sawmills and forestry operations shortly after the executive’s announcement. Out of ten addresses contacted, only one promised him firewood. Three m3 instead of the desired six, with delivery in September.
Agnes wouldn’t even be surprised to receive wet wood, because the forestry companies also sell freshly extracted wood. She doesn’t mind the price either. If 54,000 forints [133 euros] the m3 seem like a lot, the same amount would cost 90,000 [222 euros] around Budapest, he said.
Razzia on stoves and fireplaces
The sawmills that agreed to respond to us all describe an incredible scramble for wood. In the sawmill of Tura, a municipality in the Budapest region, there is still firewood, but 200 people are waiting their turn, and customers also buy wet wood. At a sawmill in the Nograd region [nord du pays]firewood is now reserved for local buyers, due to shortages.
In the forestry operations of the company Taeg Zrt., based in Sopron, near the Austrian border, orders for wood have multiplied by 1.5, and the trend that began in the spring has only increased with the fear of ‘a lack of ga