Power Firms Limit Next Year's Bill Increases

Hong Kong’s two power companies said on Tuesday that they won't be increasing their overall charges for customers, although the end of a government subsidy scheme means bills for many will still go up.

CLP and Hongkong Electric told a Legislative Council panel meeting that while the basic tariffs will increase, this will be offset by a drop in fuel costs, and overall charges will therefore be frozen.

But a HK$2,000 subsidy spread throughout the year comes to an end in December, although this will be replaced by another rebate of HK$50 per month.

The managing director of Hongkong Electric, Wan Chi-tin, said the switch from coal to natural gas, a fall in electricity consumption and the economic downturn in light of the pandemic have all put pressure on the firm to increase basic tariffs.

Chiang Tung-keung, CLP’s managing director, said: "Hong Kong’s economy has been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Everyone has felt the economic pressure in the past several months… We would like to render our support to Hong Kong people during these challenging times by freezing electricity bills."

Kowloon and New Territories households will continue to pay about HK$1.22 for each unit of electricity they use, while it will be HK$1.26 for those living on Hong Kong Island.

DAB lawmaker Elizabeth Quat questioned why there couldn’t be a cut in tariffs, given businesses have been hit by the pandemic and social unrest last year.

But Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing defended the decision taken.

"To tackle climate change, Hong Kong needs to reduce carbon emission and the power companies invested a lot in this. They are under a lot of pressure to raise tariffs. But we managed to strike a balance between anti-epidemic and environment and having the [net] tariffs frozen is something we fought hard for," Wong said.