政壇：睇社倫學英文

潔淨能源代價高監管電費淪空談

港府與兩間電力公司就管制協議進行中期檢討，由於不能單方面更改條款，預料降低准許利潤回報率機會不高，反而由於增加天然氣發電比例，電費肯定還會持續上揚。

兩電年年賺錢，年年加價，只要回報率未能達百分之九點九九上限，港府也無奈其何。○八年簽訂為期十年的新管制協議，可惜繼續沿用資產淨值與准許利潤掛鈎做法，加上引入減排條款，兩電須斥巨資增建環保發電設施，成為不斷要求加價的藉口。

顯而易見，潔淨能源已是本港未來發電主流，港府稍後將推出發電燃料組合諮詢文件，要求公眾在廉價電費與安全潔淨能源之間作出取捨。

其實，為了改善環境，再見藍天，市民不是不願意支付較高電費增加天然氣發電比例。問題是，當局監管電費一向有姿勢無實際，提高天然氣發電，隨時讓電力公司予取予攜，當局如何保障消費者權益呢？港府推動環保黔驢技窮，來來去去都是向市民荷包打主意，改善空氣污染要加電費，源頭減廢要開徵垃圾處理費及玻璃樽處理費，一味寓禁於徵，當局究竟為環保做了甚麼實事？又有甚麼措施減輕市民負擔呢？

Clean energy is expensive and the SCAs are just hot air

The Government and the two power companies are now conducting the Interim Review of the Scheme of Control Agreements (SCAs). As the terms and conditions cannot be changed unilaterally, it is unlikely that the permitted rate of return will be reduced. On the contrary, electricity tariff will continue to rise because a larger proportion of power generation will come from burning natural gas.

Despite the fact that the two power companies are reaping profits annually, they keep on raising their tariffs year after year. The Government can do nothing about it as long as their rates of return do not exceed the set ceiling of 9.99%. New 10-year-SCAs were signed in 2008, but the old approach of pegging net asset value with permitted return was unfortunately still adopted. Moreover, new conditions requiring the introduction of emission reduction were added. As a result, the two power companies had to invest heavily in green generation facilities, which in the end became their excuse for increasing tariff.

Clean energy is obviously the mainstream of power generation in the future. The Government will later publish a consultation paper on the fuel mix for electricity generation, asking the public to choose between low tariff and clean, safe energy.

In order to improve the environment and see a blue sky again, people would not be reluctant to pay more for natural gas. The problem is the Government has only been paying lip service when it comes to controlling electricity tariff. Increasing the use of natural gas for electricity generation would give the power companies an excuse to endlessly make exorbitant demand for tariff hike. How is the Government going to protect consumer rights? On environmental protection, the Government is at its wit’s end and only resorts to asking the public to pay. To improve air quality, electricity tariff has to go up. To reduce waste at source, refuse handling charge and glass bottle recycling fee have to be imposed. Taxation is its only means. What in reality has the Government done for environmental protection? What measures are there to alleviate the burden on people?