LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
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Department continues to act as an agent to collect general sewage charges on behalf of the Drainage Services Department.
Efforts to promote the autopay service continued, and the number of consumer accounts using autopay for payment of water charges expanded to 344 400, or about 13.6 per cent of all consumers. The Payment-by-Phone service was also well received and about 15.2 per cent of the total payments received were made through this service by year-end.
To meet customers' requests for services more effectively, the department will implement the Customer Care and Billing System project for staged completion from end-2003 to late 2004.
The department announced in August that its achievements against performance targets for the past year showed improvement over those of the previous year in some areas. Most achievement rates were close to, or reached, 100 per cent.
Electricity
The Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HEC) supplies Hong Kong Island and the neighbouring islands of Ap Lei Chau and Lamma; CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP Power) supplies Kowloon and the New Territories, including Lantau and several outlying islands. The supply to consumers is at 50Hz alternating current while the voltage is 220 volts single-phase and 380 volts three-phase.
The two supply companies are investor-owned. The Government monitors their performance through mutually agreed Scheme of Control Agreements. Current agreements with CLP Power and HEC came into effect on October 1, 1993, and January 1, 1994, respectively. Both will last for 15 years. The first five-yearly interim review was completed in early 1999. The next review will be carried out in 2003. The agreements require each company to seek the approval of the Government for certain aspects of their financial plans, including projected tariff levels. The agreements do not grant the companies any exclusive rights. They are not franchises, nor do they define a supply area for either company or exclude new entrants to the market.
Electricity for HEC's supply areas is supplied from the Lamma Power Station. At year-end, total installed capacity (i.e. rated power output of generators) at the Lamma Power Station was 3 420 megawatts (MW). In May 2000, the Government approved HEC's new power station at the Lamma Extension and the installation of the first 300MW gas combined-cycle generator there. The unit was scheduled to be commissioned in 2004. Subsequent to the review conducted at end-2002, the Government agreed with HEC's proposal to defer the commissioning of the unit by one year to 2005. HEC's transmission system operates at 275 kilovolts (kV), 132kV and 66kV and distribution is effected mainly at 11kV and 380 volts.
The Castle Peak Power Company Limited (CAPCO), which is 60 per cent owned by ExxonMobil Energy Limited (formerly known as Exxon Energy Limited) and 40 per cent by CLP Power, supplies electricity to CLP Power from its Black Point (1 875MW), Castle Peak (4 108MW) and Penny's Bay (300MW) power stations, with the total installed capacity being 6 283MW. Two more 312.5MW generators are scheduled to be commissioned at the Black Point power station during 2005-06.
The associated transmission and distribution systems are wholly owned by CLP Power. Its transmission system operates at 400kV and 132kV, and distribution is effected mainly at 33kV, 11kV and 380 volts.