Hungary’s energy minister: changing the utility price cap is not a priority – wind and storage are

Hungary’s Minister of Economy and Energy István Kapitány said on Monday morning, in an interview with Kossuth Rádió, that restructuring the household utility price cap (rezsicsökkentés) is not among his ministry’s priority tasks and that the issue was not seriously addressed during budget preparation, Index reported, citing Telex.

What he said. Kapitány stressed the importance of developing wind energy and building large-scale energy storage. On the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant (Paks II), the minister said a comprehensive audit of the project is under way. He firmly denied rumours of his resignation, saying that if he ever had such an intention he would announce it, and rejected the suggestion that a state secretary’s resignation was linked to the price cap.

The numbers. The draft 2027 budget allocates HUF 1,165 billion to maintain the cap, according to Economx and Pénzcentrum, almost HUF 300 billion more than in 2026. The Household Utility Protection Fund (Lakossági Rezsivédelmi Alap) started 2026 with HUF 792.5 billion and was raised mid-year to HUF 871.5 billion as spending grew, Pénzcentrum wrote. In wind power, Hungary has around 330 MW in operation, according to Világgazdaság.

Context. In September, Kapitány said in an interview with Telex, reported by 444, that the review of the Paks II project would be completed by the end of the year, after which a decision would be taken on whether the new reactors are needed, and that Hungary has a serious shortage of storage capacity. Monday’s remarks drew criticism: former MP Ákos Hadházy wrote on Facebook that the minister had either lied openly or, if he told the truth, the problem is even bigger, Index reported.

What comes next. The regulator MEKH is evaluating the bids submitted by 30 October in the first grid-connection tender for wind farms, covering 702 MW, and must announce the results by 13 December, according to Világgazdaság.

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