In the city of Nyíregyháza in the north-east of Hungary, almost one-third of the housing stock was built using concrete panels in the 1960s and 1970. The energy consumption within these buildings is extremely high: they suffer from very poor insulation, with numerous thermal bridges, poor air-tightness and severe water infiltration. In order to improve the comfort of the population and decrease the amount they spend on energy, the city decided to modernise its district heating system and housing stock.

The first stage involved a programme called ‘Opening’, which was launched in 1997 to upgrade the circuitry of the district heating system, reducing efficiency losses for more than 12,800 flats. This resulted in a considerable decrease in energy consumption and was the most cost-effective measure possible. The second stage known as the ‘Panel programme’ started in 2001 and involved modernising the heating system and installing insulation.

Most of the flats involved in the Panel programme were privately owned, which presented a challenge in securing agreement to retrofit. To overcome this obstacle, the costs were subsidised. The State financed one-third of the programme costs, one-third was provided by the city council with the final third provided by the owners themselves. In order to choose buildings to take part in the Panel programme, collectives of flat owners were invited to submit an application (the programme was not open to individual flat owners).

The Opening project was funded by householders, who made a one-off payment (€10/radiator), the government and Nyírtávhő Ltd, the district heating company owned by the local government (Nyírtávhő Ltd purchases hot water from the power station and distributes it to consumers). The payback time for the reconstruction of the heating system through the Opening project is 2-4 years.

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