Intrum survey: the majority of households are affected by the utility increase, a quarter of them are at risk

By: Trademagazin Date: 2022. 10. 20. 10:18

On average, the respondents expect an increase in costs of HUF 26,000 per month due to the amendment of the utility reduction rules, the expenses of households with the lowest income may increase by more than a third, according to the Intrum survey. Three-quarters of Hungarian households can manage the extra expenses due to the price increase, but 161,000 households are directly threatened by insolvency.

After the transformation of the utility reduction system announced in August, the claims management company Intrum and GKI Gazdaságkutató Zrt. launched an ad-hoc public opinion survey to assess how the price increase affects households. In the public opinion survey conducted on a representative sample of 1,000 people, 70 percent of the respondents answered that the modified utility reduction rules will affect their families. On average, the respondents expect a HUF 26,000 increase in utilities per month, however, the amount of additional expenses varies significantly based on the type of residence: those living in brick-built apartments expect an average bill increase of only HUF 15,000, while those living in apartment blocks expect HUF 17,000, and those living in detached houses for HUF 30,000.

“We tried to assess how much of the family is at risk of price increases in two ways: based on one method, we compared the expected increase in utility expenses with previous expenses, and according to the other with the family’s income”