Hungarians Use Less Electricity and Gas Than Last Year

Domestic gas consumption fell by 15.7% in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same period last year. From January to September, 1.07 billion cubic metres less natural gas was consumed, with the economy and households accounting for roughly two-thirds to one-third of the savings. The reduction in electricity was 7% in the first nine months of the year, the Energy Ministry (EM) told MTI in a statement on Saturday.

Residential gas consumption fell by 17.4% and that of economic operators by 14.7% in the period under review. When the figures are broken down into three-month periods, the second-third quarter decline is only in the single digits, compared to the 23.3% drop in the first quarter, the ministry said.

Last month, residential gas consumption was also down 43.4% on September last year due to summer weather. Less than 5.8 billion cubic meters of gas had been consumed by the end of September this year, compared with nearly 6.9 billion cubic meters used nationally in the first nine months of 2022, the ministry said.

According to the Central Statistical Office, based on data provided by the MVM Group, the amount of electricity consumed in the period under review in 2023 was 2,264.4 gigawatt-hours lower than in the same period in 2022. This represents an overall saving of approximately 7%, averaged over the quarters.