You are missing the point if you think the outrage over steep electricity price hikes is simply a backlash against excessive greed by already profit-bloated CLP Power and Hongkong Electric. We've been seeing plenty of public outrage lately, but this uproar is not about specifics. It reflects disgust against overall corporate greed. It reflects fury at the way people are being squeezed on all sides. And it expresses outrage at the government for allowing this. The people are saying enough is enough.
I don't know what compelled the two electricity companies to seek such high price hikes when working-class families are already struggling and there is scary talk of another global recession. They probably thought it was their right.
The agreement our bureaucrats signed with them does give them the right to a 9.99per cent annual profit during good times and bad. And if the power companies want to squeeze out the entire 9.99per cent profit even when people are hurting, there's nothing the government can do about it. In fact, that's exactly what the two firms have habitually done, even during past agreements when the guaranteed profit was well above 9.99 per cent.
I was dumbfounded when Environment Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah and his boss Donald Tsang Yam-kuen rebuked the power firms for irresponsible behaviour. Surely, CLP Power and Hongkong Electric were only doing what Yau had allowed them to do. Nowhere in the agreement does it say the two should have a conscience.
Many opposition legislators had fought against the 9.99 per cent deal, calling it excessive and containing loopholes that allowed the firms to play with figures in maximising profits. But Yau persisted. Now he himself is accusing CLP Power of fiddling with figures to justify steep price hikes. If CLP Power is indeed guilty of cheating, then Yau should do more than just talk.
Don't be fooled by the government's bluster. All this railing against the greed of the power firms is just muddying the waters to escape blame. By siding with the people, officials want to whitewash the fact that they made the greed possible. They know the people are fed up, so they want to appear as the good guys.