The two power companies announced on Tuesday (9th) the rate of increase in electricity bills for next year, with CLP’s 5.8% and HK Electric’s 7%.
The government and the two power companies have long warned the public that as Hong Kong enters the era of carbon reduction, the public will purchase new infrastructure for the two power companies and pay for the use of clean energy, and electricity bills will continue to rise for some time to come.
The energy transition is inevitable, but the government has the responsibility to alleviate the pains of the citizens during the period, and through the promotion of the electricity tariff structure and the reform of the "Plan of Control Agreement" to make electricity prices more equitable. Fluctuations in electricity prices.
75% of Hong Kong’s electricity output comes from coal and natural gas. The prices of both of them have soared recently. This year, citizens and proprietors have felt that the increase in fuel accounts has led to an increase in electricity bills. The two power companies will freeze basic electricity prices and increase fuel costs next year. The overall electricity bill will be further increased. Increase.
It is worth noting that the two electric companies have used a considerable part of the electricity charge stabilization fund reserve, and continue to have rebates to control the increase. Otherwise, the increase will be even greater, but this also means that there are fewer ways to offset the increase in the future. One item.
There are many reasons for the soaring prices of coal and gas, mainly including the disruption of the energy supply chain by the epidemic, the increase in energy consumption of countries to promote the economy after the epidemic, the lower than expected hydropower production capacity and European wind energy in Northern Europe and the need to snap up natural gas from the international market, plus the northern hemisphere countries In anticipation of the severe winter, Hong Kong relies on imports for fuel, and it will inevitably suffer from expensive electricity.
Whether the prices in the next one or two years will go smoothly depends on the climate and the effectiveness of countries in the epidemic control, but even if the global society is fortunate to return to normal, local electricity prices are unlikely to fall sharply.
Hong Kong could reduce its dependence on fossil energy long ago
Having said that, Hong Kong can actually reduce the use of fossil energy at an earlier time and reduce fluctuations in electricity prices.
This refers to the failure of the Hong Kong government to introduce renewable energy as early as possible.
Hongxing Yang, a scholar of the Polytechnic University, once estimated that assuming that all places in Hong Kong exposed to sunlight are also equipped with solar photovoltaic panels, the solar energy can provide up to 15% of the local electricity.
Even if it is only achieved in one-third of the places, that already accounts for 5%.
In addition, the government has always been procrastinating on wind energy. The wind farm projects of the two power companies will not be submitted to the Environment Bureau for approval until a few years at the earliest. In addition, the construction takes time, and it will take ten years to start production at any time, lagging behind neighboring areas. .
In addition, the local food waste recycling logistics chain has not been mature, making the efficiency of food waste power generation lower than expected.
If multiple renewable energy and waste-to-energy projects have been put into operation, the two power companies can now moderately reduce fossil energy.
Although the government and the two power companies have responded to the global trend and strive for carbon neutrality by 2050, their actual actions still seem to be not sufficiently positive.
Earlier, the government stated that it will strive to increase the proportion of renewable energy in the power generation fuel mix to 7.5% to 10% no later than 2035. The Hong Kong Electric and China Light and Power plan to phase out coal-fired power generation by the 2030s and 2040, respectively.
Instead, the two power companies will need to invest in facilities to produce, receive and store clean energy in the future.
To reduce the burden on citizens depends on the government's two tricks
On this issue, the government must do a good job of guarding and promoting the role, which can be seen in the following two aspects.
First of all, in the short term, the government continues to moderately subsidize the electricity bills of citizens and businesses.
Starting in 2019, the government has subsidized residential users for five consecutive years to reduce the additional electricity bills of the energy transition. In response to the epidemic, the government has issued relief subsidies worth 1,000 yuan from June this year to May next year.
Financial Secretary Chen Maobo recently said that the treasury deficit is less than expected, and the government is absolutely vigorous to continue to issue subsidies.
Second, the government requires the two power companies to promote energy conservation and emission reduction through reforming their fee structure.
Regardless of before and after the energy transition, the society has required the two power companies to implement progressive charges for merchants and time-sharing charges for residential buildings, which directly encourages the public to save energy and perform overpayment by users, and reduces the incentives for the two power companies to add new generating units to meet demand, thereby avoiding the two power companies from adopting " The Scheme of Control Agreement arbitrarily increases investment and pushes up returns.
As the Secretary of the Environment Huang Jinxing said at the press conference of the two power companies to increase electricity tariffs, carbon reduction has a price.
However, this cost must be allocated fairly and reasonably. The government must prevent the two power companies from passing on clean fuel and infrastructure expenditures to the public. It must also stabilize electricity prices during the energy transition period to avoid the accumulation of public grievances. The public is willing to pay for environmental protection.
Of course, in the long run, the government and all aspects of society must think about expanding other more sustainable ways of generating electricity. After all, both coal and natural gas will pollute the environment, and will eventually be completely banned under the wave of carbon reduction.
The electricity price is soaring and the fee structure is reformed. Water prices and electricity tariffs reflect the short-sightedness of energy policy
