HUANENG Power International (HPI), the second Chinese company to be directly listed in New York, has won approval to increase tariffs for its five operating power plants by more than 12 per cent this year.
Ma Hongen, head of Huaneng's investor relations department, said the rate increases for the company's five operating plants were approved on Saturday, with an average rise of 4.15 fen (about 3.8 Hong Kong cents) per kilowatt-hour (kW/h).
Last year, Huaneng charged an average 33.4 fen per kW/h, said a company official in Hong Kong.
With the rate increase, Mr Ma said, HPI would reach a rate of return of 11 per cent this year, as stated in the listing prospectus in September.
The figure is expected to rise to 15 per cent by 1998 on agreement with the Ministry of Electric Power, which links the rate of return of overseas-listed power plants with asset value.
Analysts have been concerned whether the ministry would carry out its promise to allow an increase in tariffs so the power plants could secure a guaranteed 15 per cent return.
