The power companies in Hong Kong have again beat their industry peers elsewhere in keeping energy prices under control.
The new charges will come into effect in January 2023.
Compared to the net bills in January this year, CLP customers will be paying roughly 20 percent more and Hong Kong Electric users 45 percent more.
For Hongkongers who are used to seeing single-digit increases in public utility charges, the numbers may be horrific even though the hikes stand to be among the lowest on the international scale.
How do CLP and HKE do that?
Perhaps power companies in the UK, where a large number of Hongkongers have moved over the past two years, should look to their Hong Kong counterparts for tips.
As of today, it is still baffling how CLP and HKE have been able to keep the rises under control despite surging international energy prices fueled by Russia's war in Ukraine and oil production cuts led by Saudi Arabia.
Although rumors have been circulating in the market that the chief executive election year had played a role, efforts made by the management teams at the two electricity companies should not be neglected as they deserve some of the credit.
Nonetheless, as for the end users, any hikes in living costs at a time of economic contraction due to the city's Covid restriction policy are bound to increase the burden.
This can be particularly painful when interest rates are rising, compelling homeowners to pay more towards their mortgage borrowings every month - which would be sustainable only if jobs were still secure.
Perhaps some people are unaware that the electricity charges they have been paying during the period are variable. Otherwise, the two power companies would not have come up with differing figures between now and then.
For example, the net bills CLP is going to charge customers from January 2023 is about 6.4 percent higher than those of November 2022, whereas the equivalent for HKE is 5.5 percent.
It is clear that net charges have been rising steadily since January 2022.
From a marketing point of view, it is smart of the public relations executives at the two companies to stress the comparison with that of November rather than the beginning of the year even though it is a more common practice to draw comparisons on a yearly basis.
It's all about perception management and, obviously, their PR strategies have attained the baseline objective, which is to avoid causing panic in society.
As CLP and HKE announced the hikes, international oil prices remain high.
So it is alarming to hear Saudi Arabia maintaining the rhetoric that OPEC+ - that is, 13 OPEC members plus 11 non-OPEC members - would have to stick to output cuts to render support to oil prices.
It seems that international oil prices won't come down anytime soon.
Against this global background, how much longer can the city's two power companies perform the magic - with or without the wand?
