The Brussels body had previously approved Hungary’s plan to buy fuel from Russia in the long term for the Paks II project, he added. Lazar said the government has again got closer to ensuring the conditions for generating cheap electricity for the next 60 years.

Hungary is building another two blocks at its sole source of commercial nuclear power, with Russian financing. The plant generates a little more than half of the electricity in Hungary. Hungary earlier conducted talks with the European Commission to clear up questions related to competition law and the implementation of EU procurement rules with regard to the Paks project.

Lazar also told the briefing that Hungary’s national public utilities company will supply energy to 3.4 million households from the end of 2016. “We have recovered the assets and rights that the Socialist government of 1995 privatised, giving way to numerous 100 percent price hikes for gas, electricity and district heating services”, Lazar said.

Having a state-owned public utilities company is the pledge to the permanent reduction in public utility fees, he said and promised that an additional price cut will be prepared in the next two years.

The government is making repeated efforts to acquire the electricity supply business in Elmu and EMASZ. Developing a district hearing system and transferring it from the local councils to state ownership will take around 2-3 years, Lazar said.

He promised that the state will supply gas to households in 2016, electricity services will start in 2017 and district heating in as many households as possible in 2017-18.

Source: hungarytoday.hu

Republished with permission