In a separate statement, the bureau said Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan had expressed his “great disappointment” to CLP Power managing director Joseph Law Ka-chun over the two outages occurring in a short period of time.

A bureau spokesman said the government had ordered the company to “launch a comprehensive review of its power supply system”, adding that it was required to carry out inspections and maintenance to prevent a repeat of the incident.

“A stable and safe power supply is crucial to the public and Hong Kong,” the spokesman said.

Voltage dip in Hong Kong traps 20 people in lifts, sets off fire alarms

The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department will meet the company on Monday to follow up in detail before reporting to the bureau, according to the spokesman.

The department has also requested the utility to identify the cause of the incident and submit a detailed report on the incident within two weeks.

A company spokesman said power was restored at 11.04am, 1 hour and 26 minutes after it went down.

“CLP Power immediately began work to restore the power supply to affected customers,” the spokesman said.

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District councillor Lo Yuen-ting, who visited the scene, said on social media that residents in the building heard a loud noise when the power went down.

“This morning, some residents reported that there was a loud noise coming from On Mei House,” she said. “CLP Power staff pointed out that the power in On Mei House dropped out because of a high-voltage cable failure, causing the lifts and lighting systems to be temporarily suspended.”

Tsing Yi residents on Sunday also shared their experiences from the power cut in a Facebook group for the community.

“At about 9.38am there was a really loud noise followed by the electricity cutting out,” Louis Kwan wrote.

On Mei House resident Sandy Wong replied to Kwan’s post and said she was trapped in a housing estate lift for about an hour and had been forced to call emergency services.

A voltage dip at an electrical substation on Nga Ying Chau Street on New Year’s Day trapped more than a dozen residents in lifts and set off fire alarms in Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi, Ma On Shan and Sha Tin.

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On Mei House is located about 200 metres (656 feet) away from Nga Ying Chau Street.

The CLP Power spokesman said that the two outages were not connected, but engineering personnel had been assigned to inspect the equipment at the estate.

“CLP Power attaches great importance to safe and reliable power supply and will strictly investigate and follow up,” he added.

The bureau voiced its concerns over the seriousness of the outage, calling for an explanation.

“As the incident is very serious, we are very concerned about the impact and safety concerns of the public and have instructed CLP Power to send someone to explain immediately,” it said.

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The department also sent personnel to the scene to investigate.

The department and CLP Power have both been instructed to follow up and submit a report to the bureau.

The department told CLP Power to submit a report on the New Year’s Day incident to them within four weeks. The bureau will also look into where the government can strengthen supervision to improve the performance of power companies.