Higher Electricity Charges 'unavoidable': CLP

Electricity supplier CLP on Wednesday cautioned that increases in electricity charges are "unavoidable" next year amid surging fuel prices.

Chiang Tung-keung, managing director of CLP Power Hong Kong, told reporters on Wednesday that the global fuel market is volatile and the energy crisis is worsening in view of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

He noted Hong Kong is also affected, although the impact is relatively smaller than that in places such as Singapore, Tokyo and London because the SAR has a stable supply of natural gas from the mainland.

Chiang added that one-third of the electricity generated by CLP is from nuclear energy.

But he said charges will increase inevitably as the firm's cost to generate electricity is rising rapidly. "With such great cost pressure, we expect that it's unavoidable that electricity price will rise next year. However, CLP Power will continue to help our customers to reduce their carbon emissions and lower their expenditure on electricity."

Chiang said the company is in talks with the government about new tariff levels, and an announcement will be made later.