A total of 2.5 million households in Hong Kong will benefit from a maximum electricity subsidy of 1,800 HK dollars ($232.2) from July 1, to help ease the economic downturn pressure, the city's government said Tuesday in a statement.
The new round of monthly subsidy, at 150 HK dollars ($19.4), will be credited to each residential account with CLP Power or Hongkong Electric, the city's two power suppliers, on the first day of each month for 12 consecutive months.
The subsidies can be used to offset the billed charges for electricity consumed under the account. Any unused credit can be carried forward to cover billed electricity charges under the same account until June 30, 2015, or until the close of the account, whichever is earlier.
The subsidy is one of the relief measures announced on February 1 by the financial secretary in the 2012-13 budget. This one-off measure will involve government expenditure of about 4.5 billion HK dollars ($580.5 million), said the statement.
The Hong Kong government had provided the subsidies under similar schemes in 2008 and 2011.
(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2012) |