CLP Power to investigate ‘why backup system failed’ to prevent Hong Kong’s worst outage in decades
- Lawmaker Chan Siu-hung says electricity firm will investigate why backup support provided from other areas took so many hours to fully restore power
- Environment Bureau calls for explanation from electricity firm by end of this week, with detailed report required within 14 days
CLP Power will investigate how its backup system failed to prevent Hong Kong’s worst power outage in decades, a legislator with ties to the firm has said, after up to 160,000 households were forced to sweat out a hot night without electricity or water.
Lawmaker Chan Siu-hung, a senior adviser to the firm’s parent company, CLP Holdings, on Wednesday defined the scope of the probe into the outage which affected Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun as the Environment Bureau called for an explanation from the power company by the end of this week.
CLP Power apologised over the outage, which resulted in the suspension of classes and disrupted railway and hospital services.
The incident sparked questions from many in the city, including lawmakers, on why the emergency power supply did not work, despite the firm having often emphasised its world-class service, with a reliability rate of more than 99.999 per cent.
About 140,000 affected households had their power gradually restored within hours of the outage on Tuesday night, while the remaining 20,000 had only begun to get their electricity supply back on Wednesday morning, even though CLP Power conceded that the power supply might remain unstable for the coming few days.
Chan, who worked for CLP Holdings for decades, said: “In addition to the reasons for the fire, the direction of the investigation would also include why the backup support provided from other areas took so many hours to fully restore power.”
