LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
provide a round-the-clock enquiry service on water supply matters. Efforts to promote the autopay service continued, and the number of consumer accounts using autopay for payment of water charges reached 251 000, or about 12 per cent of all consumers.
A number of computer systems were being developed for the handling of water quality complaints, automating the process of closing water accounts, and preparing cost estimates of capital works projects.
The department issued its performance pledges in March. Standards of service were publicised. In July, a customer liaison group, comprising members randomly selected from the department's computerised database of consumers, was set up to provide a channel of communication on customers' needs and expectations of service standards.
Electricity
Electricity is provided by two commercial companies the Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HEC), which supplies Hong Kong Island and the neighbouring islands of Ap Lei Chau and Lamma; and China Light and Power Company Limited (CLP), which supplies the whole of Kowloon and the New Territories, including Lantau and a number of outlying islands. The supply to consumers is at 50 Hz alternating current, while the voltage is being upgraded to 220 volts single phase and 380 volts three phase from 200 and 346 volts, respectively.
The two supply companies are investor-owned and do not operate on a franchise basis. The government monitors their financial arrangements through mutually agreed scheme of control agreements. New agreements with CLP and HEC came into effect on October 1, 1993 and January 1, 1994, respectively. Both will last for 15 years. The agreements require each company to seek the approval of the government for certain aspects of their financing plans, including projected tariff levels.
In 1985, the Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of CLP) and the Guangdong Nuclear Investment Company (wholly owned by the Chinese Ministry of Nuclear Industry) signed the joint venture contract for the formation of the Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company, to construct and operate a nuclear power station at Daya Bay in Guangdong.
When completed, the Guangdong Nuclear Power Station will comprise two 985MW pressurised water reactors. The first unit will be put to commercial operation in February 1994, while the commissioning of the second unit is scheduled for mid-1994. About 70 per cent of the power from the station will be purchased by CLP to meet part of the longer-term demand for electricity in its area of supply.
The operations of the three generating companies affiliated to CLP-Peninsula Electric Power Company Limited (PEPCO), Kowloon Electricity Supply Company Limited (KESCO) and Castle Peak Power Company Limited (CAPCO)—were consolidated under CAPCO in April 1992. CAPCO's present generating facilities include the Tsing Yi 'A' (796MW), Tsing Yi 'B' (876MW), Castle Peak 'A' (1 752MW), Castle Peak 'B' (2 708MW) and Penny's Bay (300MW) power stations. The total installed capacity is 6 432MW. The government has also approved the installation by CLP of four 600MW blocks of additional generating capacity, the first two of which will be installed in a new power station at Black Point, Tuen Mun, in 1996 and 1997, respectively. The other two blocks will be commissioned within the periods 1998 to 2000 and 1999 to 2001. All will be fuelled by natural gas piped from the Yacheng 13-1 gas field off Hainan Island in China.
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