Shocking: Hungarian firms pay the highest energy prices in EU
Hungary has the highest corporate energy prices out of all the Member States in Europe.
According to the report published by Eurostat, Hungarian energy prices are both the highest and the lowest in Europe. There is this great contrast in Hungarian energy prices. Household prices are way below the European average. Actually Hungary has the lowest energy price for average household consumers in all of Europe. However, corporate energy prices are the highest out of all of the Member States. So how did we get to the two edges of the statistics? How come Hungary became so polarised when it comes to energy prices?
Read more about Hungarian energy prices HERE.
The European energy market
According to Portfolio, if we look at the big picture, the European numbers actually seem to be stabilising in this regard. Energy prices skyrocketed when there was an inflation in natural gas prices. This increase in price was the result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Since natural gas is considered a marginal fuel, and the energy market is priced after marginal fuels, this meant that the price of natural gas affected the electricity market too.
Every country tries to alleviate the pressure this change put on their consumers. There are lots of tactics to choose from, like governmental allowances, subsidiaries or even reducing taxes or levies. This makes the situation much more affordable for household consumers regarding both gas and electricity prices.
What about corporate consumers?
Hungarian corporate gas prices are sky-high. There are multiple components that contributed to these exorbitant prices: mainly, the gas contracts signed last autumn at high prices. Another factor is the increased Robin Hood tax, the higher energy trader bids made more expensive by financing challenges arising from the reduction of overheads. In addition, the emergency supply (which the government required them to do, so they fell out of the protected zone) meant higher gas prices for the smaller corporate gas consumers, while market gas prices fell.
Read more about alternative energy resources HERE.