Company committed to providing electricity to rural areas
CLP is a power generator and supplier which began in Hong Kong over a century ago. It was founded by the Kadoorie family who first came to the territory in 1880. The family has a strong appreciation of the city’s history, culture and values.
Apart from power generation as its core business, CLP is proactively engaged in the community. This includes public education, assistance to the under-privileged, energy saving, protection of the environment and vocational training through the newly established CLP Power Academy.
Before the late 1970s, there was scarcely any electricity supply in rural areas of Hong Kong.
But Lawrence Kadoorie, the father of Sir Michael Kadoorie, was strongly committed to Hong Kong’s rural community. He wanted to supply electricity to the villagers — despite the difficulty and expense of laying cables in remote areas.
Sir Michael, 76, still remembers what his father said at the time about the rural power supply plan. “My father and uncle felt they could help the grassroots,” he recalled.
“My father’s view was very simple: Anybody who wanted to have electricity should have it.”
Twenty years ago, CLP set up volunteer teams to help lay cables in rural villages. Today, the company has more than 1,000 volunteers who are mostly CLP employees and their family members. They provide repair and maintenance services to the elderly, disabled and tenants in sub-divided units.
The company also runs the Power Your Love scheme to encourage energy saving. If customers consume 100 units less than the previous year, the saved electricity will be donated to needy households. Over 20,000 families have benefited from the scheme since 2015.