Government drafting new rules for caps on utility bills

Government decisions on revamping the rules for how caps on household energy bills are applied are necessitated by the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis affecting the whole of Europe, a government official told public radio on Sunday.

Csaba Dömötör, parliamentary state secretary of the prime minister’s cabinet office, said in the interview that the war was “harming Europe the most”.

He noted that Hungary has had a cap on household energy bills in place for many years, and protecting Hungarian families as much as possible continued to be the government’s top priority. The cap scheme can be maintained if it is provided up to the price level of average consumption, he said, adding that detailed rules governing pricing and regulatory aspects were in the process of being worked out. The energy emergency board will soon finalise the new rules and a related decree will be issued shortly after, he said.