Utility costs are bordering on affordability in several EU member states, where the government has largely passed on the population to the extreme increase in energy prices on the world market. In Latvia, for example, the price of domestic natural gas rose by nearly five and a half times in one year, reads the Origo.hu article.
Hungarians can now really feel the benefit of the fact that the government moderated their everyday expenses by introducing the utility reduction 10 years ago.
Because in most states of Europe, there are no similar comprehensive protective measures, and the material burdens of the inhabitants have increased to an extraordinary extent in the last year due to the runaway energy prices.
"Every night I sit in the unheated apartment with candles," complains a British mother about the runaway utility prices
Many British consumers are on the verge of giving up their basic needs due to skyrocketing electricity prices.
By the end of last year, the world market price of crude oil, which is the raw material for working clays, had already broken records, and the fights in Ukraine - and the new sanctions against Russia - made crude oil even more expensive, as well as natural gas. In some countries, this has resulted in staggering overhead costs.
In Latvia, for example, the price of domestic natural gas rose by nearly five and a half times in one year, and the price of electricity was almost four times as much in April this year as it was a year earlier.
Source: Source: Mediaworks–Hírcentrum
At the same time, rents rose by 32 percent. All of this led to the fact that the average overhead costs increased by 335 percent in Latvia according to the official data there (that is, the overheads became almost four and a half times!) - reports Origo.hu.
In two other Baltic states, utility costs also rose significantly: In Estonia, the increase in prices is roughly 60 percent, which, in addition to the tripling of the price of natural gas, also contributed to the 34 percent increase in rents. In Lithuania, the five-fold increase in gas prices resulted in a 38 percent increase in average utility costs.
In April of this year, the checks to be paid at the end of the month were much larger than last year in the Netherlands as well. As a result of the increase in the price of electricity and natural gas, utility costs in the Benelux state increased by 86 percent.
According to an Origo.hu article, in one of the EU's poorest countries, Romania, household utilities have risen by an average of 65 percent. Electricity rose in price by 60 percent, but in the case of natural gas, depending on the provider, the price increase could be as much as 300 percent.
Apart from the aforementioned Baltic states, rents increased the most in Slovenia, Portugal and Poland, by 24, 19 and 11 percent, respectively.
Source: Hungarian Nation/Origo
Featured image: Zsófia Pályi / Origo
