"This is especially important at times when many find it difficult to pay the costs increased because of the cold. We are committed to solidarity even if the government's austerity measures put the municipality itself into a difficult position," he said.

The utility subsidies were introduced seven years ago and expanded in 2022 during the cost-of-livig crisis, he said. Between July 2022 and end-2025, City Hall has assessed 46,000 applications and disbursed more than 860 million forints (EUR 2.2m), he said.

The subsidies have covered costs of district heating, water, sewage, waste management, gas and electricity. Now, additional subsidies were introduced to help Budapest citizens in the heating season between Oct 1 and March 31, he said.

The subsidies will also be tabled at the General Assembly meeting on Wednesday, Karacsony said.

Who qualifies for the utility bill subsidy?

Budapest residents qualify if they are the end-users of the subsidized utility service (district heating, mains gas, or electricity) and meet at least one of the conditions below.

You qualify for the subsidy if you — or someone in your household — receive any of the following:
 

• District municipal housing support (for maintenance costs or debt reduction)

• Unemployment benefit

• Pre-retirement jobseeker allowance

• Public works employment

• Active-age allowance

• Registered as a jobseeker but no longer receiving benefits

• Nursing fee

• Child home-care allowance

• Caregiver support for the elderly

• Regular child protection allowance

• Higher-rate family allowance

• Disability support

• Blind person's personal allowance

• Elderly allowance

• Home-creation subsidy (for 3 years from approval)

• Foster parent or professional foster parent raising a placed child in your home

• Protected consumer status

You also qualify if you receive one of the benefits listed below and the monthly amount is HUF 140,000 or less.

Or

You qualify if you receive one of the benefits listed below and the monthly amount is more than HUF 140,000 but no more than HUF 230,000:

• Old-age pension (including independent agricultural cooperative or specialist cooperative allowances)

• Early retirement benefit or service allowance

• Rehabilitation benefit or disability benefit (including exceptional disability benefit)

• Disability allowance

• Accident allowance

• Miners' health damage allowance

• Temporary miners' allowance

• Dance artists' livelihood allowance

No subsidy is available if your pension or pension-like benefit exceeds HUF 230,000 per month. Eligibility is based on the net amount you actually receive after any deductions or garnishments (such as for debt enforcement).

During the heating season (October 1 to March 31), those already receiving the regular subsidy can get a top-up if they declare which utility covers their heating costs (district heating, mains gas, or electricity) and request it for the season. The top-up is HUF 3,000 per month.

Only one person per consumption point (e.g., household meter) can claim the subsidy or top-up, and the same person qualifies for just one point total. You remain eligible even if you have arrears with the utility provider.

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com
 

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