Management of the Hungarian Energy Office - Magyar Energia Hivatal

y 7 January. In the evening of 6 January, the system operation
licensee ordered – in accordance with the enforcement decree
of the Gas Act – the restriction of the fi rst category (large
customers above 2500 m 3 /hour consumption), which was
followed by the restriction of category II (customers between
500-2500 m 3 /hour) on 7 January. On 7 January – on the basis
of GKM Decree 75/2007 (17.08) – the Natural Gas Crisis
Committee convened a meeting, and coordinated the necessary
measures on the following days. E.ON Földgáz Storage Zrt.
increased the withdrawal from the gas storage facilities from
6 January to the maximum. The restriction of category II was
removed after one day, the large customers of category I.
(primarily the gas-combustion power plants) remained under
restriction until 15 January. MOL Nyrt. also increased the
production of the domestic natural gas
fi elds to the maximum available level.
KHEM Decree 1/2009 (07.01) on the
authorization of the use of the security
natural gas reserve was issued, but in
the end there was no need to use it.
After 2 days of reduced operation (2
million m 3 /day) on 8 January, thank to
the measures taken by E.ON International
GmbH, the level of the import
from the Western direction increased
(8-9 million m 3 /day) out of which
the Hungarian Government was able
Transmission charges
Entrance charge
3 {HUF/(m /h)/year}
Exit charge
3 {HUF/(m /h)/year}
3
Volume charge (HUF/m )
3
Average price (HUF/m )
to help out Serbia, who was undergoing an absolute crisis.
Finally, on 20 January the Eastern import gas transmission
started, and on 21 January it already operated at full capacity.
As a summary, the outage of gas import affected Hungary the
least compared to the surrounding countries, thanks partially
to the extent of the established gas storage capacity, to the
adequate winter preparations, and to the fair cooperation of
the affected organizations.
On the basis of the experience of the January gas supply crisis
and Directive 2004/67/EC, Government Decree 265/2009
(1.12) was issued on the restrictions of natural gas offtake,
the use of the natural gas safety reserve, and the measures
necessary in the case of a natural gas crisis.
Table 12 Change of the transmission charges in 2009
annual report 2009
customers. On 1 July 2009, KHEM Decree 28/2009 (25.06) on
the setting of prices in connection with the natural gas universal
service came into force.
Characteristics of the price system and price regulation
from 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009
GKM Decree 105/2005 (19.12) on the frameworks of natural
gas price regulation orders the application of a regular price
adjustment for 1 January and 1 April on the basis of the factors
affecting the purchase costs of natural gas.
The resale charges (resale capacity charge and resale gas
charge) serving as the basis for the settlement between the
01.07.2008 01.07.2009 Change
8 373 9 932 19 %
2 455 2 231 -9 %
1.165 0.833 -29 %
3.702 4.01 8 %
wholesaler and the public utility service suppliers have not
changed in the fi rst half of 2009. With the model switch, the
public utility wholesaler status has ceased to exist since 1 July
2009.
Characteristics of the price system and price regulation
from 1 July 2009 to 31 December 2009
After the model switch of 1 July 2009, the price preparation
activity of HEO is focused on the system use charges. In the
new model, universal service suppliers replacing public utility
service providers supply customers under 100 m 3 /h as well
as district heat generation licensees who have not entered
the competitive market. HEO in resolution decides about the
charges to be applied by universal service suppliers – on the
basis of pricing requests of licensees (once each quarter).
PRICE PREPARATION, PRICE REGULATION
GKM Decree 70/2003 (28.10) on the setting of natural gas
With regard to price regulation, 2009 brought a signifi cant
change. GKM Decree 105/2005 (19.12) on the frameworks
of price regulation of natural gas served as a basis for system
system use charges was amended in January and April 2009,
and subsequently it was repealed by KHEM Decree 31/2009
(25.6) on the setting of natural gas system use charges, which
use charges and the public utility end
user charges until 30 June 2009. After
the model switch in natural gas mar-
Table 13 Change of the storage charges in 2009
Storage charge 01. 07. 2008 01. 07. 2009 Change
ket in July 2009, the above decree only
provides for the price regulation of the
system use charges.
Injection charge (HUF/m ) 1.369
0.439
0.78
0.119
-43 %
-73 %
On 1 July 2009, public utility supply en-
4.93 5.32 8 %
ded, and the group of customers supplied
in the framework of universal service
219.81 230.26 5 %
was reduced compared to pubic utility
2.815 2.799 -1 %
3
Withdrawal charge (HUF/m )
3
Storage working gas charge
(coefficient)
Storage peak charge
(coefficient)
3
Average price (HUF/m )
annual report 2009 | 37