Hong Kong households can expect electricity bills to rise by 1.9 per cent next year
Power companies say costs will go up by almost HK$10 per month due to a rise in fuel prices
Hong Kong’s two power companies announced on Tuesday that electricity bills are to rise by 1.9 per cent next year, after a last-minute about-turn by HK Electric amid a government veto on its proposed double-digit increase to a key component of its tariff.
HK Electric and CLP Power attributed the need to increase tariffs to a rise in fuel prices and an increase in operating costs.
Environment minister Wong Kam-sing also warned of a “substantial increase” in tariffs in years to come as Hong Kong was “in a state of transformation”, using cleaner fuel to generate power.
Both suppliers made their respective tariff adjustments for 2018 public at Tuesday’s Legislative Council economic development panel meeting, hours after their proposals were screened by the Executive Council.
CLP Power, which serves some two million accounts across Kowloon, the New Territories, and Lantau, said the adjusted tariff would be HK$1.154 per unit of electricity, up 1.9 per cent.
HK Electric, which supplies more than 570,000 users on the Hong Kong Island and Lamma, will adjust its tariff to HK$1.125 per unit, also up 1.9 per cent.
