By October the entire retail gas market will have been taken over, and with the acquisition of the consumers of Tigáz, Főgáz Zrt., the gas supplier which operates under the professional supervision of the First National Public Utility Provider Company (ENKSZ Zrt.), will have some 3.4 million customers, Mrs Németh, Lászlóné told the press at a press conference held in the Székesfehérvár customer service office of Főgáz.

The State Secretary responsible for national financial services and postal affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office stressed that the nationalisation of the retail electricity market is also under way. The first steps have already been taken, and after the Government adopts a decision, the required documents may be signed and sealed.

The State Secretary said that there are intensive preparations in progress in the case of district heating services as well. The study, which is designed to facilitate the takeover of the various district heating companies operating in 95 locations throughout the country to different technical standards on the complex, scattered market of district heating services, will be completed by the end of May. ENKSZ will shortly buy the district heating service provider of one of Hungary’s largest localities, she added, but refused to specify the locality in question.

Mrs Németh reiterated that the entry of the State into the retail gas, electricity and district heating market is intended to promote the sustainability of the reduction of utility bills, the preparations for further reductions, and the improvement of the quality of services. As she said, the first step was the acquisition of Főgáz barely a year ago, and they now have 2.2 million customers on the gas market.

She further reported that as a result of the latest acquisition – after Magyar Telekom and GDF-Suez – the clientele of some 610,000 consumers of E.ON also joined the standardised national system as of 1 January. The integration process, which is a sizeable operation even by European standards, may cause problems, but the necessary preparations have been made, and simultaneously with the takeover, eight further customer service offices were opened in Pécs, Szekszárd, Kaposvár, Dunaújváros, Veszprém, Zalaegerszeg and Nagykanizsa, in addition to Székesfehérvár, the State Secretary said, adding: in cooperation with the Hungarian Postal Services, there will be another 51 post offices in the service area covered by E.ON to date where customer services will be provided in connection with national utility services, and as a result, there will be personal customer administration points in 300 locations throughout the country in total.

The State Secretary highlighted: it may improve the security of services that, in contrast to periods in the past, Főgáz has used the entirety of the business profits of 2014, some HUF 5 billion, for maintenance works, rather than for the payment of dividends. She added that this will be the case in the future as well.

Péter János Horváth, President and Chief Executive of ENKSZ and President of Főgáz, told the press that they supply 65 per cent of the Hungarian market with gas, and as a result, they have become the largest player of the market. He pointed out that, due to their non-profit-oriented operations, their objective is not the maximisation of profits, but the attainment of the highest standards in the services they provide.

András Biczók, Deputy Chief Executive of Főgáz Zrt. for Trade stressed in the context of the takeover of the customers of E.ON: the consumers concerned were not required to do anything. Their contracts were terminated at the end of 2015, and by the force of law, new contracts came into being with Főgáz as of 1 January 2016. Batch collection orders, too, were automatically transferred to Főgáz: customers were not required to renew them. He remarked that the previously accumulated debts of customers remained with the former service provider.

He indicated that the first billing period will fall due in the next few weeks. The bills will include an amount calculated on the basis of an estimated reading, as well as the base fee for two months as the base fee was not billed in January. He added: meter readings can be registered with the identifiers stated on the bills as of February.

(MTI)