Minister Lantos said the measure applies to households heated by natural gas, electricity, or district heating, covering a total of nearly 8 million consumers nationwide. About 2.9 million households use gas heating, 4.4 million rely on electricity, and 674,000 apartments are connected to district heating systems. Each household may receive the discount once, regardless of energy type. Customers using prepaid meters will also receive support in the form of a one-time 7,000-forint credit.
The minister stressed that the government is ensuring that households that remained within the regulated price band in 2025 will not be pushed into higher pricing tiers due to January’s increased consumption. The discount will be proportional to individual usage and is based on the assumption that higher consumption in January was caused by unusually cold weather.
Under the system, January gas consumption will be calculated at 130 percent of normal levels, reflecting an average 30 percent increase. A publicly available formula will allow consumers to calculate their expected discount based on last year’s usage.
Billing methods vary among gas customers, with some submitting monthly readings, others paying flat rates, and the remainder being billed based on standardized consumption curves. In most cases, the discount will be applied on settlement bills. District heating users will receive the reduction through their apartment associations, with many providers already applying it on the first invoice.
Electricity-heated households must submit a declaration by April 30 indicating whether they wish to apply the discount to gas or electricity usage and, if applicable, which meter should be used. If no declaration is submitted, the discount will be applied automatically to gas consumption.
Minister Gergely Gulyás, who heads the Prime Minister’s Office, said the extra winter consumption would have added about 50 billion forints to household bills, a burden the government has decided to fully offset. He added that the current utility price system will remain in place, warning that without it, Hungarian families would face energy prices two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half times higher than current levels.