Our government has until the end of this year to tell the power companies what changes it wishes to make to the Scheme of Control Agreements (SCA) which govern their operations. It is asking the public for views on The Future Development of the Electricity Market and has just published an Energy Saving Plan for HK’s Built Environment.

There has been much discussion on electricity market competition and on fuel sources but little on how the SCAs might motivate energy efficiency and energy conservation. Yet there is a divergence of opinion with the Government planning for electricity consumption to increase 1-2% per year while some NGOs believe reductions of 1-2% per year should be achieved.

This seminar therefore addresses action to reduce energy consumption in particular:

• What incentives for reducing energy consumption are in the existing SCAs? How well are they working?
• What incentives for reducing energy consumption have worked well elsewhere?
• What actions do we believe our government should take to reduce our energy consumption?

Mr. Robert Gibson is an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Environment at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a Fellow of Civic Exchange, and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of CPA's working group on Sustainability and Integrated Reporting. He focuses on mechanisms for making capitalism more sustainable and facilitating action by business to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. He is an Accountant with a degree in Engineering Science and Economics.

Mr. Joseph Law is currently the Planning and Development Director of CLP Power, the Hong Kong electricity business of CLP Group. CLP Power is a vertically integrated electricity supply business, serving 5.8 million people in its supply area. Joseph is responsible for corporate and strategic planning, tariff and regulatory management, as well as commercial projects developments. He has a range of experience in the energy business from finance, renewable energy development, project management, strategic planning and commercial development. Joseph has a banking background before joining CLP and is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant.

Ms. Christine Loh is the Under Secretary for the Environment. Ms. Loh was the co-founder and CEO of Civic Exchange prior to joining the HKSAR Government in September 2012. Ms. Loh had spent nearly a decade as a politician and member of the Legislative Council (1992-97 and 1998-2000). Before joining the Legislative Council, Ms. Loh held senior regional positions in commodities trading, as well as in project negotiation. Having been very active in public affairs since 1980, she had founded or served on boards of a wide range of non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong and overseas concerning a variety of issues including environmental protection, urban planning and design, and equal opportunity. Ms Loh is a lawyer by training.

Mr. Prashant Bhaskar Vaze is Chief Planning and Trade Practices officer at the Consumer Council where his work includes advising on sustainable consumption and the energy market. Prashant has worked on consumer and energy issues in the UK as Chief Economist at Consumer Focus and several roles in the UK government as an economist and senior civil servant. He lead UK's strategic work on decarbonising heat including the early stages in the development of the pioneering Remewable Heat Instrument and barriers to cogeneration. Prashant was co-author, with Stephen Tindale, of Repowering Communities a book detailing government policies and programmes to support community scale energy and energy efficiency drawn from Europe and North America.

Mr. T C Yee is the General Manager (Corporate Development) of The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd. He joined HK Electric after graduation, working primarily on local and overseas power project management and construction. At present, he leads teams of managers, engineers and analysts in Planning & Regulation, Environmental Affairs and Energy & Performance. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and a corporate member of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, The Institution of Engineering & Technology UK, and The Institute of Engineers Australia respectively.