香港两大电力公司9月燃料费上调引发中小企补贴呼声

An industry leader and a lawmaker have called for subsidies for small and medium-sized enterprises after fuel surcharges imposed by Hong Kong’s two power suppliers rose by nearly 80 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, since March, amid the Middle East conflict.
HK Electric, which supplies electricity mainly to Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island, announced that its fuel clause charge would rise by 5.9 per cent from last month to 60.7 HK cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in September.
The increase marks the fourth consecutive monthly rise since May. The charge has jumped by about 1.3 times from 26 cents per kWh three months ago, representing a 78.5 per cent increase since March.
CLP Power, which serves customers in Kowloon, the New Territories, Lantau and other outlying islands, also announced on Tuesday a fuel cost increase to 45.1 cents per unit in September. Its surcharge has risen by 15 per cent since March, from 39.2 cents per unit, and has increased for six consecutive months.
Pamela Mak Mei-yee, honorary president of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association, said electricity costs were inevitable for every shop owner, even if they were not always the largest expense.
“Once costs keep rising, and merchants find it difficult to fully pass the increase on to customers, profits will naturally be squeezed further,” she said.
Mak called on the power companies and authorities to offer time-limited support for smaller, high-consumption businesses, such as fuel-cost rebates, instalment payment options and subsidies for energy-saving equipment, to help ease pressure on their electricity bills and cash flow.
She also suggested issuing consumption vouchers to eligible households for use at specific local shops, which would ease the burden on households while boosting business in the catering, retail and services sectors.

In the longer term, Mak said SMEs should be helped to improve their air conditioning, refrigeration, lighting and power management systems to reduce the impact of future energy price fluctuations on their operations.
The Brent crude benchmark traded at US$86.8 per barrel on Wednesday morning. Despite a 1.96 per cent decline compared with the day before, the price remained higher than the US$72 per barrel recorded in late February, just before the war began in the Middle East.
To ease high electricity bills, the two companies have introduced rebate and relief schemes, as grass-roots households face higher air-conditioning costs after a summer with an unusually high number of very hot days.
The government has earlier rolled out diesel and liquefied petroleum gas subsidy schemes, but these apply only to vehicles and vessels – not to commercial electricity users.
Lawmaker Ray Wong Wing-wai said the electricity fee increase this time was not significant, but the focus still needed to be on the overall energy issue, which continued to affect the industry.
“For the industrial and business sector, the most troublesome thing is the constant back-and-forth of hikes and cuts of electricity bills – it actually makes it harder for them to keep their costs under control,” he said. “This is something we take quite seriously.”
Wong said SMEs in industries with high electricity consumption, such as laundries and food producers, were likely to be hit hardest, noting that running a food business was already difficult and that high power usage would significantly increase their costs.
He said one laundry business reported that electricity costs, which previously made up 5 to 8 per cent of its overall costs, now accounted for about 13 to 14 per cent, after its electricity fees nearly doubled over the past year.
Wong urged the government and power companies to offer targeted subsidies for commercial users, while businesses should also adopt energy-saving tools and solutions, drawing on the mainland’s experience.
He added that data centres powered by artificial intelligence would be built in the Northern Metropolis, generating substantial heat that could potentially be recovered for power supply.