The suggestion by Eric Spain and R. E. J. Bunker concerning the possible savings of billions of dollars by raising the setting of thermostats on air-conditioners 'by one degree Celsius in the summer' (South China Morning Post, July 5 and 12), may seem logical, but might not work in practice.
I remember a similar situation during the so-called energy crisis many years ago when we were told the world was running out of oil. I was one of a dozen or so people appointed to the government's oil committee which was a think tank that met to discuss ways of reducing the territory's oil consumption. We came up with several cutbacks, concerning the use of electricity in factories and elsewhere (for example, turning off every other street light). Things went quite well at first. Then during the fourth or fifth meeting, a spokesman for the oil companies stood up and said these companies were in the business of selling oil not conserving it. He said if the oil companies were not able to meet their projected profit forecasts they would have no alternative but to increase their prices. Soon after that the committee was abandoned.
I imagine that in a similar situation where the power companies lost billions of dollars in sales due to air-conditioning cutbacks, the basic unit price of electricity would be adjusted to meet profit forecasts.
This would not only affect major power users who can afford to pay higher bills, but also the smaller users many of whom do not have air-conditioning and who are already struggling to make ends meet.
A. E. GAZELEY
Clear Water Bay
