After months of despair, good news for solar panel owners in Hungary

Hungary’s government will keep the current annual balance settlement system in place for families that have installed solar panels, Energy Minister Csaba Lantos said on Friday.

Annual settlement will also apply to families that do not yet have solar panels installed but have registered for them, Lantos said in a video on Facebook. The government has recently asked the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH) to explore the possibility of amending the regulation on the settlement of electricity bills in the case of households using solar power, Lantos said.

The minister confirmed after a meeting with MEKH head Edit Juhasz on Friday that the annual settlement system could remain in place for families that have installed solar panels and, with certain stipulations, even those that are preparing to install them.

Read also:

• Leaked: Solar stop to end soon in Hungary – Read more HERE
• Fidesz MP calls for rethink of solar panels regulations

Balance-based settlement will remain in place for a ten-year period after the solar panels are installed, he said, adding that this system was more favourable because it meant lower electricity bills for families. Brussels, however, wants a gross settlement system to be adopted effective Jan 1, 2024, Lantos said, referring to a new European Union directive. In the case of households that do not yet have solar panels installed, the annual settlement system will apply if they registered solar panel projects by midnight on Sept 7, and the installation is completed by the end of 2025, he said.

Here is how Szilárd Németh, the government’s commissioner in charge of the utility price protection scheme, wants to protect the Hungarian households from Brussels: