Power company CLP announced it’s providing around HK$200 million in community support next year to alleviate the financial burden of underprivileged families, ahead of an annual review of electricity bills at the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

The utility firm told a press conference on Monday that it’s "inevitable" that tariffs will go up next year as a result of soaring international fuel prices.

"The international fuel market has been very volatile. With the intense Russian-Ukraine conflict, the supply has also become very tight. That inevitably affects fuel costs. We're seeing increasing trend of our fuel cost adjustment. I'm afraid that this will have an impact on the total fuel bill," said Quince Chong, CLP’s chief corporate development officer.

To offset the impact of the tariff hike on the underprivileged community, Chong said the power company will provide HK$100 million in subsidies for around 150,000 grassroots families.

Another 50,000 tenants of subdivided flats will each get a one-off HK$800 subsidy, while the firm will also help them install individual electricity meters.

Chong added that the firm will distribute e-learning devices to around 1,600 needy students.

“We come up with different programmes at different times, which we think is important to meet the evolving needs of the community. We believe the few subsidy programmes will be able to offer a substantial sum of money to alleviate the financial burden of underprivileged families,” Chong said.