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Our analysis looks behind the possible reasons of the significant increase in the electricity retail prices experienced in 2008. This article aims to introduce and analyze the price trends of the Hungarian retail electricity market in the recent one and a half to two years, based on the data published on the homepage of the Hungarian Energy Office (Magyar Energia Hivatal, MEH). We made our examinations from the date of January 2007 to June 2009.

In the second half of the last year, the economic crisis reached the countries of Central Eastern Europe including Hungary, which resulted in a significant fallback of industrial production and employment. In one of our prevoius article, we examined the effects of these events on the Hungarian electricity consumption. Considering the intensity of the regional power trade, we deem it justified to extend our analyses to the neighbouring countries as well, providing a clearer picture on the developments of electricity markets.

REKK made a comprehensive research with a view to analyse the Hungarian biomass market and to estimate the energy potential of the Hungarian biomass supply.1 The research is fully based on the data of the relevant authorities, namely on the figures from the National Forest Inventory managed by the Central Agricultural Office, Directorate of Forestry (Mezőgazdasági Szakigazgatási Hivatal Erdészeti Igazgatóság, MGSZH) with regard to forest biomass, and on the figures of the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Mezőgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Hivatal, MVH) with regard to energy plantations. In the course of the research, we had continuous consultations with the relevant authorities and forestry specialists, and asked them to review our results. We published our working paper summarising the research on the REKK homepage in September 2009. Although our findings triggered large debate, we have not received any professional disproof of our conclusions. The feedback we received suggests that the regulatory shortages we revealed will be taken into account in the course of the ongoing drafting of the enforcement decrees of the new forest law.

In our article we present a review of the most important aspects of the Third Package, the Community regulation which determines the functioning of the internal electricity and natural gas markets.