Electricity Fully Restored In NT West: CLP

CLP said on Wednesday that electricity has been restored to all households affected by a massive power outage in New Territories West caused by a fire that destroyed a transmission cable bridge in Yuen Long.

The power firm earlier said it might take two days to restore energy to around 20,000 homes in Tin Shui Wai, but a senior director of CLP, Eric Cheung, said electricity has been supplied to them from alternative sources since around 8am.

However, he warned that power supply in the area might remain unstable for a few days.

"Our power supply security is getting a bit lower as compared with the normal supply arrangement," he said.

"So if they are able to save the energy a bit, it can help us in maintaining the power supply to them before we are able to fully restore the supply in this area."

Under Secretary for the Environment Tse Chin-wan said the government is highly concerned about the incident.

He said officials have asked CLP to submit a preliminary report on the power outage within three days, and a full report in two weeks.

Asked why the government didn't notify residents of the fire and the blackout using its Emergency Alert System, Tse said that's because the incident only affected a certain area but not the whole of Hong Kong.

The system was first triggered in March to notify residents not to go to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, as it had been converted into a designated facility to treat Covid patients.

But many Hongkongers at the time questioned whether the alarm was necessary, with many complaining they were startled by the screeching sound and vibration coming from their mobile phones.