On 1 March 2025, Hungary’s recently issued Government Decree No. 26/2025. (II. 27.), which further amends the rules of the obligatory take-off system (KÁT) and the rules of the new renewable support scheme (METÁR), went into force. The decree follows a previous government decision to temporarily suspend the automatic indexation of KÁT prices in years when the consumer price index of the previous year, as calculated by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, does not exceed 1.06.
Although most of the changes introduced by the recent decree appear to be technical, they are expected to have a significant influence on the business-return prospects of solar power plants generating electricity under these support schemes. These changes will benefit industrial energy consumers by reducing the financial burden passed on to them in order to make the KÁT and METÁR support schemes sustainable. This last objective of the amendments is explicitly stated in the preamble of the government decree, along with the desire to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic enterprises.
The changes introduced form a complex package of measures. The following elements are worth highlighting:
- Electricity fed into the grid due to an instructed deviation of the TSO is no longer subject to KÁT settlement.
- Newly introduced provisions clarify the settlement method for KÁT projects where the grid-connection point is used by another power plant or an energy storage facility in addition to the KÁT project. In such cases, electricity fed in from another power plant or energy storage facility at the same connection point is not included in the KÁT settlement. The decree states that these system elements can only participate in system services through the same aggregator.
- Voluntary withdrawal from the KÁT support system is encouraged. KÁT projects are allowed to leave the KÁT support scheme on a ‘no return’ basis for the METÁR support scheme or the free market. If the KÁT project enters the free market, it will be exempt from the Robin Hood tax until the end of its original KÁT entitlement period. If the KÁT project enters the METÁR support scheme, its supported price will be increased by the reduction of the applicable regulatory surcharge.
- The rules for the inspection of KÁT production by the Regulatory Authority (HEPURA) and for the reimbursement of undue support have been changed or tightened.
- Those KÁT producers who left the KÁT support scheme (before 29 June 2022 when it was permitted) must join either the KÁT or the METÁR support scheme by 1 July 2025.
- Provisions on determining the regulatory surcharge and self-balancing management have been revised in both schemes.
- In the METÁR support scheme, the basis of calculation of the reference market prices is changed from the intraday market prices to the day-ahead market prices.
- In the METÁR support scheme, the period of negative hourly prices after which no premium can be paid to the METÁR generator is reduced from 6 hours to 1.5 hours since the decree has changed settlement units from hourly to 15-minute units.
The wording of other parts of the legislation has been amended and clarified. Hence, interpretation and application of certain provisions requires care.
For more information on this decree and assistance with interpreting the decree’s provisions, contact your regular CMS advisor or local CMS experts.
The article was co-authored by Rebeka Erdősi.
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