60% of Hungarian families have seen their housing maintenance costs rise since the rules on the reduction of utility bills were changed. The average household has to pay HUF 12,000 more for energy, while the average household affected by the price increase has to pay HUF 22,000 per month. Almost four-fifths of the families surveyed are trying to save money on their bills, according to the results of a joint survey conducted by GKI and Masterplast in December.
Nearly five months have passed since the first government decision to change the rules of the energy bill, and although the rules have changed in several important respects during this period, consumers are already aware of how this affects their family's financial situation. In the current GKI survey, the majority of respondents (60%) said that the changes to the rules on energy bills had increased their bills by a small or large amount. Almost a third of them have not been financially affected by the change in the rules, and about 8% could not or did not want to answer this question.
There are large differences by type of dwelling: while two thirds of people living in a family house said that their bills had risen twofold, just under half of those living in a condominium said the same. The proportion of respondents reporting an increase in their bills tends to increase as you move down the municipal gradient: in Budapest, the average is 53%, in the cities with county status 55%, in other cities 60% and in municipalities 68%.
Changes in household energy prices and the uncertainty about the future of the energy market are encouraging the vast majority of the population to reduce their energy consumption in some way. Only 18% of respondents said that they do not use or plan to use any energy-saving measures, and a further 4% could not or did not want to answer this question. So, 78% of respondents have tried to save in one way or another.
45% of families use electricity more sparingly than before. One in nine families have purchased or plans to purchase one or more energy-efficient appliances in the next year. These are significant developments in themselves, not only in financial terms but also in terms of sustainability. Just over a third of respondents turn down the thermostat: 36% of detached houses, 40% of people living in brick houses and a quarter of people living in flats in terraced houses are heating their property to a lower temperature than before.


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