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Electricity & gas · Hungary
Checked 2026-09-30

🌡️ District heating, heating oil or bottled gas in Hungary: what are my rights?

The short answer

Not every home is on the gas grid. District heating, heating oil and LPG have their own rules, and often a different body handles complaints.

📜 The rules in Hungary

Heating without the gas grid

District heating (távhő) is a local public utility; about 650,000 homes in 95 towns use it. Households pay an official (regulated) price. Each year MEKH prepares a proposal for household district-heating charges by 31 August.

  • Complaints about a district-heating company breaking its business rules go to the notary (jegyző) of your local council. (mekh.hu)
  • Billing, splitting of charges between flats, meter maintenance or notice of planned works: complain to the county or Budapest government office (kormányhivatal). (mekh.hu)
  • In a block of flats, how heating costs are split between flats (e.g. by heated volume or heat cost allocators) is set in the building's rules and decided by the owners' meeting; complain first to the building's representative. (www-wb.mekh.hu)
Települési önkormányzat jegyzőjeComplaints that the district-heating company does not follow its business rules
Fővárosi és vármegyei kormányhivatalokComplaints about district-heating billing, cost splitting and meters🔗 kormanyhivatal.hu
Official source: mekh.hu · Checked 2026-09-30

🪜 Step by step

  1. Know what heats your homeDistrict heating from a network, oil or LPG from a tank, or bottled gas. The rules differ for each.
  2. Check the rules for HungarySee below who supervises heat and fuel suppliers and what they must tell you about prices.
  3. Complain in writing firstWrite to the heat or fuel supplier with your bill and what you want changed. Keep a copy.
  4. Escalate to the right bodyIf that does not help, go to the body named below.

📇 Who to contact

Települési önkormányzat jegyzőjeComplaints that the district-heating company does not follow its business rules
Fővárosi és vármegyei kormányhivatalokComplaints about district-heating billing, cost splitting and meters🔗 www.kormanyhivatal.hu/hu/elerhetosegek
Országos Fogyasztóvédelmi EgyesületIndependent advice for consumersFor advice, template letters and a second opinion🔗 www.ofe.hu

❓ Questions

Can I leave district heating?

That depends on the network and the rules in Hungary. Contracts are often long; check the notice terms.

Are heating oil prices regulated?

Usually not; you compare offers. Where there is an official price or cap, it is shown on this page.

Who checks the safety of LPG tanks and bottles?

The supplier and the installer have safety duties. If you smell gas, leave at once and call the emergency number from outside.

📎 Sources

Checked: 2026-09-30

🧭 Is this still correct?

We check this information carefully, but phone numbers, websites and rules change — and sometimes we get something wrong. Spotted a mistake or a change? Let us know below.

🔗 Also useful

🔑Energy costs for tenants→🤝Help with energy costs→🔄Switching supplier→📈Price increase→🧾Wrong or high bill→

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