By The SUN
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| A current electricity bill shows fuel surcharge amounts to 70% of the basic charge |
Hong Kong people will pay as much as 6.4% more for electricity next year compared to what is charged them this month, after the city’s two power companies announced further rate hikes.
This is on top of the hefty increases in the monthly "fuel clause charges" that both CLP Power and HK Electric have imposed since February this year.
Thus, residents of Kowloon, the New Territories and Lantau will effectively pay 19.8 percent more to CLP Power by next year, while those on Hong Kong island and other outlying territories will pay a whopping 45.6% percent more to HK Electric.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
CLP Power said during a Legislative Council meeting on Tuesday that it would keep its basic tariff unchanged for a third consecutive year at 93.7 HK cents (12 US cents) per kilowatt-hour. But it would increase its fuel charge to 62 cents per kWh, which would mean a 6.4% increase in its January billings compared with this month’s level.
HK Electric said it would increase its basic rate by 5 per cent to 114.5 cents per kWh, and raise the fuel charge to 82.5 cents per kWh, up 3.7 per cent, amounting to an overall increase of 5.5 per cent compared with this month’s prices.
While the basic tariff rate has been frozen this year, the two companies are allowed to charge higher fuel charges each month.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The announcement of the power rate increase was met with calls by politicians for the electricity companies to accept lower profits and help residents cope with the economic downturn.
They also pointed out that the single-digit increases announced by CLP Power and HK Electric did not give a true picture of the rate increases.
“The increases are astounding,” said Edward Leung Hei of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
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“That of HK Electric is exceptionally shocking
to the 1 million residents living on Hong Kong Island. Also, the way in which
the government has put the increases into context is seriously misleading.”
Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan told the legislators the government had asked the power companies to keep their increases to a minimum.
He reminded them that under an agreement with the government that remains effective until at least the next decade, both companies are allowed an 8 per cent annual rate of return.
Tse said the arrangement assured Hong Kong of a
safe, reliable and efficient electricity supply at a reasonable rate.
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| BASAHIN ANG DETALYE |
But several lawmakers challenged this view,
saying it ran counter to what Chinese President Xi Jinping had said during his
visit to Hong Kong last July that the government had to “break through the
barriers of vested interest”.
DAB head Starry Lee was scathing in her
comment.
“You have tried to squeeze every penny out of
the 8 per cent guarantee under the agreement and passed on the fuel costs to
consumers,” she told the representatives of the two fuel companies.
The lawmakers called on the government to find
more stable sources of fuel, including nuclear energy from the mainland, to
help residents cope with the burden of paying hefty electricity bills.
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