NOW DO WE not have a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black when property development companies complain that other people's prices are too high? You would expect a lower profile from them with a complaint of this kind but on our front page yesterday ('Property giants call for lower power charges') we had Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Swire Properties, Hang Lung Development and Wharf Holdings all joining the queue to whinge about electricity tariffs.
'They place an added burden on individuals as well as businesses and hurt the territory's overall competitiveness,' said SHKP spokeswoman May Lau.
How interesting, Ms Lau. Did you by any chance say the same thing five years ago about high property prices when they were much more of a burden and a threat to competitiveness than electricity tariffs will ever be? No? Oh well, I suppose everyone is allowed an oversight or two.
Similarly, we have Wharf assistant director Leung Kam-cheung complaining electricity accounts for a third of the company's operating costs at Times Square.
I am not surprised. The place is lit up so brightly at night that you would do well to carry your sunglasses with you. But if bright lighting is what you think you need to attract shoppers, Mr Leung, then do not act surprised when a bill comes with it. You get no tears from me. Turn some of those lights off and start thinking about insulation for your air-conditioning first.
Let us put some perspective on this. The chart shows you inflation in energy costs to the consumer over the past 20 years, starting from an index base of 100 in 1982.
The line on the top shows you the overall consumer price index (CPI) on a 12-month moving average basis. It says that on average what cost you HK$100 at the beginning of 1982 now costs you HK$315. Next down is Towngas. This now comes in at HK$222 for a bill that would have cost you HK$100 in 1982. Then comes LPG at HK$200 and finally, well below all the others, we have electricity at HK$142.
