Explainer | Hong Kong’s CLP Power ‘on the decline’? The Post looks at string of voltage dips, outages

Power utility to conduct review after latest outage, with some lawmakers raising questions over new incentive-punishment mechanism

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The environment minister has called for “fundamental improvements” to CLP’s culture and electricity supply management system. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Ezra Cheung

Published: 4:30pm, 16 Jun 2024Updated: 3:41pm, 25 Jun 2024

Corrected [2:02pm, 18 Jun, 2024]

[2:02pm, 18 Jun, 2024]
This story has been updated to reflect that 400kV cables were involved in incidents on March 19 and 30.

A four-hour electricity outage plunged the densely populated district of Wong Tai Sin into darkness while many were eating dinner last week, prompting Hong Kong authorities to ask CLP Power to review all voltage dips and blackouts over the past three years.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan summoned the company’s boss to request “fundamental improvements” to its culture and electricity supply management system.

He also questioned whether CLP’s service quality was “on the decline” given the number of power disruptions in the past six months.

The Post looks at the mounting pressure on CLP to improve its services, as six electrical incidents have been reported so far this year.

1. What was the latest outage?

The blackout in Wong Tai Sin on Wednesday was the utility’s sixth and Hong Kong’s worst power disruption this year, affecting about 2,250 households and businesses.

Its coverage extended from the Lions Rise private residential complex in Wong Tai Sin to as far as the Mei Tung public housing estate in the neighbouring Kowloon City district.