ENG-1962 — Page 290

236

PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

of these cables have already been installed and put into use on the 33,000 volt system. Progress continued during the year on the rural electrification scheme and 100 villages in the New Territories were provided with electricity on the same basis as urban dwellers. On 30th September 1962, the length of the company's system was: 66,000 volts (operating at half pressure), 27.8 miles; 33,000 volts, 209.4 miles; 11,000 and 6,600 volts, 313.6 miles. There were 442 substations and 1,050 transformers with a total capacity of 940,260 KVA.

Supply was given to 204,639 consumers, an increase of 13.8 per cent, and 1,149,584,400 units of electricity were generated, an increase of 19.4 per cent over the previous year. In all, 980,940,670 units were sold, made up of 18.41 per cent lighting, 0.56 per cent public lighting, 36.35 per cent power and 44.68 per cent bulk supply. Charges per unit during the year were: Lighting, 29 cents; power, 14 cents; domestic cooking, 13 cents. These rates are subject to a variable fuel surcharge which at present is seven per cent. Discounts are granted for large consumption and special rates quoted for bulk industrial supply.

Negotiations which had been proceeding with the two electricity companies since early in 1960, in an effort to devise some alter- native form of public control to the compulsory public acquisition recommended by the Electricity Supply Companies Commission, resulted in May in a provisional agreement between Government and the boards of the two companies. The provisional agreement covered merger of the companies and an arrangement for linking future increases in dividend with reductions in charges. It became apparent, however, in July that the merger terms would not secure the consent of an adequate proportion of the shareholders of the China Light and Power Co Ltd. Government then proposed that the merger terms should be the subject of an independent assess- ment, but, toward the end of the year, Hongkong Electric Co Ltd announced that it could not accept this and it became clear that it was unlikely to be possible to reconcile the interests of the two companies in terms of a voluntary merger. The problem of the future control of the companies therefore still remained to be solved after three years of negotiation.

The only part of the New Territories to have an independent source of electricity is the island of Cheung Chau, where there has