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How to toss 200.000 Hungarian families into the abyss, or what is happening to the solar PV users?

How to toss 200.000 Hungarian families into the abyss, or what is happening to the solar PV users?
Let’s take an example. If a Hungarian citizen today buys state bonds using one’s savings, one expresses his trust in the state. One does this in the sure knowledge that one will get the invested amount back in ten years, and one will also collect the interests included in the contract on an annual basis.
And once everyone has invested, what if the government decides not to pay the annual interest at all?
Well, this interest was already taken away from us when it appeared in the Magyar Közlöny on the 18th of November, 2022, completely unexpectedly – contrary to all previous government communications – that everyone could remain in the annual net metering construct for a maximum of ten years.
Is it possible that they will smile and cheerfully announce that they will not even return the state bond investments but only a part of them, and not in ten but rather in twenty years?
Well, that’s what they’re planning now with solar PV users, according to preliminary information.
We hope that the Hungarian government will restore the trust in it by its citizens, which is now about to shatter in hundreds of thousands of people.
The Hungarian state has encouraged solar investments throughout the past ten years, encouraging households with all possible ways of communication until the last moment to take care of their own and their family’s future with an alternative, renewable source of energy (solar energy), choose an environmentally conscious solution, and reduce their dependence on natural gas. With numerous statements, the government assured the population that solar systems granted permit and installed until the end of 2023 would be allowed to keep operating under unchanged conditions, and not just for ten years. In recent years, more than 200,000 families in Hungary have trusted the government’s promises and decided to invest in their own future and contribute to reducing the import and use of fossil energy carriers. We invested several million forints (for comparison, the order of magnitude of €10k), signed a contract with the electricity company to receive an invoice once a year, and only look at the difference between the energy used in the given year and the energy fed back into the grid. We knew that the money we invested would return in 8-10 years the earliest, and only if we calculated correctly. Nobody makes a fortune out of the overproduction except for the power company: they take our surplus for resale at a symbolic price of 5 HUF (around €0,01). If our consumption is higher than our production, we pay the same price for the kWh’s we buy as everyone else.
Many pensioners invested the money they had saved over the decades in order to have a calmer, more predictable life in their elderly years.
People with large families or single mothers who spent their savings, their last cents, to raise their children in financial security.
There are many people who opted to take out a loan of 10-20 years, knowing that this investment will pay off one day and will also bring benefits.
And there are still many, many people who only had one shot because there was no money for anything else. Families who do not heat the jacuzzi in winter and summer, for whom the solar PV system was not a luxury investment. Those who were unable to refurbish a house, apply proper thermal insulation, install a heat pump or a fireplace (using wood as primary heat source), install a solar PV system and/or a solar collector, or build a passive house. They had only one option, and they believed the government.
And now we all feel cheated and ripped off if the government’s intentions come true.
It is not true that the European Union decided to abolish the so-called annual net metering construct. The EU only make statements about new entrants after 01.01.2024. It expressly rejects the unilateral amendment of contracts in force, as – according to their justification – it would undermine citizens’ trust in the law, the rule of law, and the credibility of the state.
It is not true that there is no adequate network capacity, since the power company will continue to buy (for pennies on the dollar) the electricity fed back from already existing systems, they only want to change the method of accounting.
It is not true that the annual net metering of solar PV users is a “discount”, especially that we want to profit at the expense of others. It is a contractual agreement between two parties, signed by both parties, the terms of which were deemed mutually favorable and accepted.
It is not true that we will not come to grief with the planned monthly net metering construct. Very few people would have installed solar if this billing system had ever been previously mentioned. And if it becomes final, it will crush a lot of people financially.
We therefore request the Government of Hungary to keep the solar PV systems granted permit and installed until the 31st of December, 2023 under unchanged conditions and in the annual net metering construct!
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