ENG-1987 — Page 231

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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Kowloon and the New Territories. Planning of new regional offices and depot facilities in Kowloon and New Territories was put in hand for full implementation of regionalisation.

Electricity

Electricity supply is currently provided by two commercial companies at a cost which is among the lowest in the Southeast Asian region. These two companies are the Hongkong Electric Company (HEC), which supplies Hong Kong Island and the neighbouring islands of Ap Lei Chau and Lamma, and the China Light and Power Company (CLP), which supplies the whole of Kowloon and the New Territories, including Lantau and a number of outlying islands.

The two power companies are investor-owned and do not operate on a franchise basis. The government monitors the financial arrangements of the companies through schemes of control. The schemes require the long-term financing plans of the companies and the forecast tariff levels to be submitted to the Governor in Council for approval.

An American firm of consultants was appointed in 1983 to examine the arrangements for monitoring the operations of the power companies. In their report published in March 1985, the consultants offered a number of recommendations on how the operational aspects of the monitoring process could be improved. A special working party responsible to the Secretary for Economic Services was set up to develop the recommendations. The working party's report was submitted to the Executive Council, and plans for implementing the recommendations were drawn up during the year.

In 1963, CLP and Exxon began a partnership in financing the generating development programme. CLP and Exxon now jointly own three electricity generating companies – Peninsula Electric Power Company Limited (PEPCO), Kowloon Electricity Supply Com- pany Limited (KESCO) and Castle Peak Power Limited (CAPSO). The total installed capacity of the system at the end of 1987 was 4 778 MW.

PEPCO, KESCO and CAPCO have operating service agreements with CLP under which CLP constructs, commissions, operates and maintains the electricity generating facilities for these companies. Operation of the power companies owned by the affiliated electricity generating companies is in the hands of CLP. PEPCO owns the two generating plants: at Tsing Yi 'A' (720 MW) and Tsing Yi ‘B' (800 MW). KESCO owns 504 MW of gas turbine capacity, together with the Castle Peak 'A' Station consisting of four 350 MW coal-fired or oil-fired dual fuel units. Adjacent to the Castle Peak 'A' Station is the Castle Peak 'B' Station, owned by CAPCO. This station, scheduled for completion in 1990, will provide four 677 MW dual fuel (coal or oil-fired) units. The first two units were commissioned in early 1986 and 1987, the remaining two units are due for commissioning in early 1988 and 1990. The Castle Peak 'A' and 'B' power stations together will have a combined capacity of over 4 000 MW and will become the largest power station complex in Southeast Asia.

CLP's transmission system operates at 400 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV, and distribution is effected mainly at 33 kV, 11 kV and 346 volts. The supply is 50 hertz alternating current, normally at 200 volts single phase or 346 volts three phase. Supply for bulk consumers is available at 33 kV and 11 kV.

Work continued during the year on the development of an extra high voltage transmis- sion system at 400 kV to transmit power from the Castle Peak Stations to the various load centres. This 400 kV network comprises two transmission rings. One ring, a primary ring encircling the New Territories, was completed in late 1985. It consists of 90 kilometres of double circuit overhead lines and four extra high voltage substations at Lei Muk Shue, Tsz Wan Shan, Tai Po and Yuen Long. The other ring, scheduled for completion in 1988, will