Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research: REKK

RESEARCH FOCUS

The research centre has taken part in several research projects in Hungary and Europe. Our main areas of research are the electricity and natural gas markets, but we have also worked on water economy fields. In the energy markets, climate protection and renewable energy are becoming important. Thus our main educational activity is the energy management economist and specialist training course, which has been running since 2009. The training/course is also supported by research results published by the REK research team.

Empirical analysis of the critical characteristics of household energy demand for decarbonisation and price regulation in Hungary – OTKA project

The objective of making household energy consumption climate-neutral within a period of three decades represents a significant challenge for all countries worldwide. The implementation of this objective in Hungary is further hindered by the fact that utility prices for household energy have been fixed for a decade. Additionally, due to the significant public policy implications of this issue, there is minimal expectation of immediate action. The fixed rates for energy services obscure information from and about the users of household energy.

The period 2015-2020 has been the subject of observation in terms of both the energy balance and household statistics. Furthermore, individual sample data for the latter has been made available. The analysis of this data represents a significant component of our research. The Central Statistical Office also collects representative price indices in the same structure as the household statistics, which report household expenditures in value (at current prices). Thus, the quantitative changes in these data sets can be revealed with the help of deflation.

The method we follow is mostly systematic literature review and data collection. The questionnaire has been compiled, and we are currently planning the public procurement, to collect primary quantitative data.