Hong Kong’s power firms urged to share risks of global fuel price increases as they defend delay in cutting tariffs
- CLP Power and HK Electric say electricity tariffs lagged behind real-time fuel prices because of way they pegged their natural gas contracts
- Electricity tariffs are expected to fall in the middle of the year
Hong Kong’s environmental authorities have sought to engage the city’s two power utilities to share the risks of international fuel price increases, as the firms defended the delay in cutting tariffs despite the recent falling costs.
CLP Power and HK Electric sparked public alarm last November when they announced increases in their electricity prices by 19.8 per cent and 45.6 per cent respectively by January year-on-year, as fuel costs soared amid the Ukraine war.
HK Electric on Monday announced it would raise its fuel adjustment surcharge to 90.6 HK cents (0.1 US cents) per kWh in April, up from 86.4 HK cents this month.
The increase will push the overall rate for residents living on Hong Kong Island, Ap Lei Chau and Lamma Island to 205.1 HK cents per kWh, an increase of 36.6 per cent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, CLP Power, which serves Kowloon, the New Territories and most of the city’s outlying islands, will freeze its tariff at 155.2 HK cents per kWh as part of a rebate scheme that will run from April until June.
In an environmental affairs panel meeting at the Legislative Council, lawmakers questioned why the two power firms’ rates did not correspond to the softening of international gas prices and instead kept rising over the past months.
