The amount of natural gas and electricity used in Hungary decreased further last year, the Hungarian Ministry of Energy announced.

According to the information, approximately 8.5 billion cubic meters of gas were consumed last year, which is one billion cubic meters (10.9 percent) less than the 2022 level, and 2.5 billion cubic meters (23 percent) less than in 2021.

According to a summary of the Central Bureau of Statistics, out of 8.5 billion cubic meters, the population used more than 3 billion, and economic operators used 5.5 billion. The year-on-year decline in the two main consumer categories was 10.7 and 11 percent, respectively. Indicators for the fourth quarter indicate a slight increase, as total usage reached about 2.7 billion cubic meters, exceeding the level of the last three months of 2022 by 1.3 percent.

A total of 41 TWh of electricity was used in Hungary, which is more than 2 TWh (4.7%) less than the previous year.

In November last year, electricity consumption rose for the first time in a long time compared to the same month of the previous year, and there was also an increase in December. The most recent quarter, in which nearly 11 terawatt-hours were used, was a 2.1 percent increase compared to the full-year decline.

According to calculations based on data provided by the MVM Group, in the part of the heating season that began in mid-October 2023, approximately 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 9.5 terawatts of electricity were consumed in Hungary. Compared to the same period in 2022, these figures show an increase of 1.8 and 3.1 percent, respectively.

“The large-scale savings will reduce Hungary's exposure to imports, strengthening energy sovereignty and security of supply,” the ministry added, but did not say in the announcement that the reason for the decline was largely the partial marketization of energy prices announced in August 2022. And the recession that caused industrial players to decline as well. About their consumption.

According to the ministry, the filling rate of domestic gas storage tanks is still more than 86 percent, and the consumption rate is 57 percent, which is the third highest value among European countries, more than double the European Union average.