Ministry: Energy consumption up but still lower than levels before crisis

Defining the heating season as the October-April period, it said in the first three months of the season natural gas consumption in Hungary was up an annual 5.4 percent, while 4.4 percent more electricity was used, the ministry said in a statement.

This is still considerably lower than consumption levels before the international energy crisis, it added.

Despite the harsher winter, household energy supply is guaranteed by high gas storage capacity, while the government scheme to keep energy bills cheap is also protecting families, it said.

Altogether 156 million cubic meters more gas was consumed than a year earlier in the first three months of the heating season. Residential use rose by 11.5 percent, while the economy’s consumption was 1.1 percent higher.