Steven N.
More local municipalities are not able to buy electrical power for next year because the prices are so high that they don’t have the money for it, according to Index.
A few days ago, Átlátszó reported that the Fidesz-led cities of Kaposvár, Békéscsaba and Berettyóújfalu had unsuccessfully tried to buy power through public procurement, but even the cheapest bids were beyond what the local governments could pay.
While the Hungarian government has fixed utility prices for consumers through the so-called “utility reduction” scheme, this doesn’t apply to municipalities.
Among other places, the town of Hódmezővásárhely, led by the opposition prime minister-candidate Péter Márki-Zay, has also not been able to purchase natural gas due to high prices.
Energy expert Attila Holoda told RTL Híradó that municipalities would not be able to deal with high prices on their own following pandemic-related cuts from the government. However, they did not receive an answer from the government regarding how many municipalities may have found themselves in a difficult financial situation, and if help from the government is forthcoming.
In his regular radio interview on Friday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the EU’s climate policies were responsible for the high energy prices.
[Index]
