How will the utility costs of Metrodome buildings change?

Changes in the residential prices of natural gas and electricity are making everyone frantically calculate how these will affect the amount of utility bills they will have to pay in the future.  This is certainly no different for Metrodom customers who will be moving into their new homes this year (Metrodom Zugló) or in the following years (Metrodom River and Metrodom Green). The answer to the title question is relatively short and simple: they will notice almost no price increase. Those who are interested in the fuller answer can read the details below.

Those who currently live in a Metrodom building, or who have friends or relatives living in one that we have built, have already appreciated the extremely low heating bills. Even in the coldest winter months, the amount of heating costs did not exceed 4-5,000 HUF for a studio, 6-7,000 HUF for a one-bedroom apartment and 8-9,000 HUF for a two-bedroom apartment. And Metrodom's houses, which will be handed over this year or in the future, will have a significant advantage even compared to this in the race for low consumption.

First of all, in contrast to the CC energy rating of our previous houses, Metrodom Zugló can now expect a BB rating, and from next year we are aiming for an AA rating for all our houses, which means, among other things, outstanding thermal insulation, i.e. inherently low energy consumption. On the other hand, these buildings will already be equipped with Metrodom's proprietary Dual Eco cooling and heating system, which you can read more about here. It consists of a system of ceiling-mounted, surface cooling and heating, on the one hand, and a system of heat pump boilers using electricity and condensing boilers using natural gas, on the other, which are combined to produce heating or cooling water and domestic hot water according to the conditions. The system is very flexible and can even be operated on electricity or natural gas alone for the whole heating season if circumstances or costs so require.

The good news for Metrodom's customers is that, although the residential price of electricity will generally increase, the preferential tariff for heat pump systems will remain unchanged, so that their running costs will not increase in the future. This will be of great benefit not only in winter, but also in summer, as surface cooling has always been cheaper than conventional air conditioning, but now the difference is even greater, with Dual Eco it costs around half to a third less to air condition a home in summer than with a split air conditioner.

It is also good news that, although the residential price of natural gas is also rising, even in our previously handed-over houses the amount of natural gas used is well below the established average consumption, not only on an annual average but also in the coldest winter months. As the gas boilers in the houses equipped with the Dual Eco system work only in the coldest winter weeks, apart from producing hot water for domestic use, the residents can expect even lower consumption, and would still pay the previous reduced price for gas even if the current limit of 144 m3 per month per apartment were halved.

Overall, Metrodom customers can therefore continue to expect low heating and water heating bills and an even greater relative advantage in cooling costs compared to other air conditioning solutions.

The only aspect negatively affected by the price increase is the electricity consumption in the communal areas, for which the condominiums will have to pay 71 HUF/kWh instead of the reduced price of 37 HUF/kWh. In practice, the biggest items here are the consumption of lifts, garage doors and lights. However, according to our calculations, in terms of the total common costs, this means an increase of roughly 5%, well below inflation, which means an extra 15-20 HUF per square metre per apartment in the common costs. From this, anyone can easily calculate that for a studio apartmentt, the utility costs will increase by about HUF 500, for a one-bedroom apartment by about HUF 700, and for a two-bedroom apartment by about HUF 1 100, or more precisely, would increase if these apartments were already finished and occupied. We are sure that anyone who has read this far will not need us to explain further and in more detail why buying a Metrodom flat was a good decision.