Utility prices set to jump 8%-10% next year

Public service fees in Budapest and many other cities and towns are expected to go up by 8-10 percent next year local service providers calculate, wrote Wednesday's business daily Napi Gazdasag.

The paper collected data on expected increases in the costs of public transport, sewage facilities, drinking water, chimney sweeping, funerals, parking, and waste disposal as well as energy and rent and found that all prices will be going up by a minimum of 4.8 percent (for drinking water) and by an unknown maximum for district heating.

Local governments, which provide these services and utilities, cite the rise in energy prices as the reason for the hikes.

Napi Gazdasag then cites National Bank of Hungary governor Andras Simor, who in an earlier interview voiced increasing concern over the rising prices of locally regulated services.

It appears that in many cases not only are local governments passing on justified increased costs to consumers but also the costs of their inefficient operations, he told the paper.

• Email
• Save to My Caboodle