Press release, 10.03.2026.

This is how utility allowance is accounted in inflation statistics

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) published the first release on February 2026 consumer prices in the usual manner, on its website. The utility allowance on the January 2026 extra consumption will have an impact on both the domestic consumer price index (CPI) and on the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP). The accounting in statistics is adjusted to the date of invoicing, the pace of data receipt as well as domestic and European methodological rules.

The average price of natural and manufactured gas and of electricity is determined in statistics based on actual consumption data of households. In the calculations, HCSO considers the different consumption of households as well as the possibility of granting allowances to certain social groups – for example people having a large family. Thanks to this, the appropriate proportions of the weight of lower and higher price ranges are included in the price index. As the subsidy on the January extra consumption reduces the average unit price, it will have an impact on statistics, too.

In the domestic consumer price index (CPI), the impact of the allowance will be visible from March 2026. The reason for this is that aggregate household consumption data are available in a two-month time lag. The impact of the subsidy is accounted for one year in statistics. In March and April 2026, the allowances of consumers paying based on monthly meter readings will be included in the price index, and from May 2026 to February 2027, those of households paying their energy bills according to annual or temperature-dependent accounts. Therefore, the allowance will make part of statistics not at the actual date of consumption but at the date of invoicing.

In case of the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), used for European comparisons, the methodology is different, household energy being accounted in an annual approach. According to EU rules, the weights of consumption are fixed over the calendar year, for example, the 2025 structure of consumption will be the basis of the calculations in 2026. Average prices, however, always reflect the pricing conditions in a particular period. As the exact details of the allowance became available in a decree published in February 2026, the effect of the allowance, too, will be accounted from this month on. Thus, the allowance will make part of this indicator between February and December 2026. In this case, no distinction is made in statistics between monthly and annual ways of accounting.

As for purchased heat, the allowances are accounted in line with local governments’ practice of invoicing. As the majority of settlements invoiced the allowance to consumers in February 2026, its impact will predominantly be included in that month in domestic and European inflation indicators.

Hungarian Central Statistical Office
H-1024 Budapest, Keleti Károly utca 5–7. Phone number: (+36-1) 345-6000
Postal address: H-1525 Budapest, P.O.Box 51
www.ksh.hu