As bus fares and power bills surge, will John Lee leave Hongkongers to fend for themselves?

For John Lee, the Hong Kong story is about reopening for business. For ordinary folks, it’s about rising taxi, bus, ferry fares and power bills – and how little the government is doing about it

Alice Wu

Published: 8:15am, 28 Nov 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

Christmas came early for Hong Kong this year. And I’m not talking about the festive decorations in the shopping malls. The Ebenezer Scrooges have been given top billing instead, and are starring in the “Hong Kong Story” this holiday season.

We haven’t even made it to midwinter and it’s already bleak here. Following the high-profile debut trip abroad to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Thailand, with a delegation in tow, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu contracted Covid-19.

And so, the Hong Kong Story that Lee has been working hard to tell has run into a bit of a snag. We are indeed open for business – unless Covid-19 gets us first, that is. It’s a tale we’ve been struggling with – Covid-19 renders our narrative plotless.

Lee had to cancel his Executive Council meeting. Bah humbug! And while he self-isolated and worked from home, the Scrooges were let loose.

The Star Ferry is seeking to double its fares and planning to scrap free rides for those aged 65 and above. The government last allowed the Star Ferry to increase fares in 2020.

Franchised bus operators have also applied for a fare increase, of up to 20 per cent. This, after the Executive Council approved higher fares last year.

Commuters in Hong Kong’s Central district wait for the bus on November 2. Franchised bus operators in the city have applied for a fare increase of up to 20 per cent. Photo: Dickson Lee

And, of course, how can other modes of transport miss out? Taxis are seeking approval for another fare increase. If not for the recent derailment and failure in handling evacuations, the MTR Corporation would most probably join, if not lead, the Scrooge bandwagon.

But if we are to compare our Scrooges, the power companies dropped the biggest bomb: a year-on-year rate increase of either 19.8 per cent, or an extortionate 45.6 per cent come January. With only two power providers in Hong Kong, residents don’t get to choose, because CLP Power provides the power for Kowloon, the New Territories and most of our outlying islands while HK Electric’s grid covers Hong Kong Island, Ap Lei Chau and Lamma Island.

Worst of all is the government’s handling of the power company price increases. Environment Minister Tse Chin-wan helped them downplay the rate increases by avoiding using year-on-year figures, which is the normal practice, but by comparing what customers are paying now with what they would pay in January. Those numbers – 6.4 per cent for CLP Power and 5.5 per cent for HK Electric – turned out to be a lot more “digestible”.

Officials’ conduct risks worsening Hongkongers’ political alienation

Government officials do not have the luxury of playing these power companies’ creative number games, because they serve the very people who are going to have to shoulder these higher costs.

As much as the government tries to dismiss lawmakers’ accusation of Tse’s presentation of misleading numbers, he has no excuse. Now residents know whose side the government is on – and it leaves a very bad taste.

Tse claimed the government had negotiated with the power companies once it had received the proposed rate increases and asked them “to spare no effort in reducing the increase rate and minimising the impact of power price adjustments on society”.

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Tariff increases of 19.8 per cent and 45.6 per cent reflect how little effort it spared to minimise the impact on society. And if the companies cannot see the impact, then the government must step in and protect the people.

But so far, the government doesn’t seem able to understand what impact a 45.6 per cent increase in electricity bills will have on residents and businesses. And that’s unacceptable.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has been warning for months about the very high chance that Hong Kong will end the year in recession. We are up against unprecedented headwinds and yet the government sits idly by while the Ebenezer Scrooges run the people down, all for the sake of turning a profit.

Remaining silent while residents come to terms with these shockingly higher prices is not what an efficient and effective government does. It is pointless to talk about the Hong Kong Story if residents are left out in the cold to defend themselves.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA